§ 32. Mr. Keith Vaz (Leicester, East)If he will make a statement on the backlog of cases before the immigration appeal tribunal. [37646]
§ The Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (Mr. Geoffrey Hoon)The backlog of outstanding adjudicator appeals is starting to come down. It has fallen by 5,670 appeals since the end of July 1997—from a total of 34,909 then to 29,237 at the end of February 1998. The abolition of the primary purpose rule, the appointment of more adjudicators and the better listing of cases are factors making that reduction possible.
§ Mr. VazI am grateful for that answer and I congratulate the Parliamentary Secretary on the work that has been done to reduce the backlog of cases before the tribunal, but does he accept that any delay in processing the cases causes enormous distress to applicants? Someone who is refused permission in, for example, Bombay still has to wait a year and a half before his or her spouse entry case is considered in either Birmingham or London. Will my hon. Friend consider targeting resources more effectively to cut that backlog, and also the necessity for more new information technology equipment, which it is to be hoped would allow information coming from a post abroad to be brought to the tribunal as quickly as possible?
§ Mr. HoonI am grateful for my hon. Friend's comments. Certainly, it is important that we continue to bear down on the backlog of cases, and since my appointment to this position I have been grateful for the valuable help and advice that he has been able to give me. We need to continue to work on the matter. There is, however, no necessity for applicants within the United Kingdom to wait for such periods provided that they are willing to go from London to the provinces. Although there is a considerable backlog of cases in London, waiting times at other hearing centres are much shorter, and anyone who wants a case to be dealt with urgently can say that it should be transferred elsewhere.
§ Mr. Humfrey Malins (Woking)Is not the reality that the backlog of appeals is getting worse? At the moment, we have some 100 applications for asylum each day, excluding dependants, and more than 50,000 asylum applications are still awaiting an initial determination. All applications have to go to an appeal, and it seems to me that the Government's problems are getting worse and that they are not acting to solve them. Does the Parliamentary Secretary intend to appoint more immigration adjudicators, or to grant any form of amnesty? He must agree that the asylum appeals in the pipeline are vast in number and that matters are getting worse by the day.
§ Mr. HoonAs the hon. Gentleman knows, the Lord Chancellor's Department is responsible for the appeals process. The backlog is being reduced. The immigration appellate authorities aim to deal with up to 31,000 asylum appeals in the current financial year. That is a projected increase of some 40 per cent. over the previous year.