HC Deb 26 June 1989 vol 155 cc323-4W
Mr. Cartwright

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for political asylum in the United Kingdom are currently being received each month; and from what nationalities.

Mr. Renton

Information is not available in the form requested. A provisional breakdown by nationality of all applications made in each quarter is supplied by the United Nations High Commissioners for Refugees, one quarter in arrears. Copies are placed in the Library. Statistics for the first quarter of 1989 will be available at the beginning of July. We know that there has recently been a large increase in the number of Turkish nationals applying for asylum on arrival at ports. There have been over 3,000 such applications since the beginning of May.

Mr. Cartwright

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many applications for political asylum in the United Kingdom he expects to be granted on the basis of his Department's backlog criteria;

(2) in what circumstances applications for political asylum in the United Kingdom are to be granted in order to reduce the current backlog of such cases and to release staff to deal with new applications.

Mr. Renton

Asylum applications continue to be decided under the criteria of the 1951 convention. There is no question of granting refugee status in cases which do not qualify under the convention in order to reduce the backlog of outstanding applications. Efforts are being made to reduce the backlog and staff are encouraged to identify and resolve more quickly through the grant of exceptional leave cases which do not qualify under the convention but in which outright refusal is likely to be inappropriate or impractical. Cases continue to be resolved on their individual merits and we can make no estimates of the likely outcomes.

Mr. Cartwright

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for political asylum in the United Kingdom are currently awaiting a decision; and how many of these have been delayed for 12 months or longer.

Mr. Renton

Information on the number of applications for refugee status in the United Kingdom awaiting a decision at the end of the year is published annually in Home Office Statistical Bulletin "Refugee Statistics, United Kingdom". The 1988 volume of this bulletin will be published next month. The latest available volume is for 1987 (Issue 16/88), a copy of which is in the Library. Of the estimate of a total of 8,300 applications recorded as awaiting a decision at the end of 1987, approximately 4,200 were recorded as outstanding for 12 months or more. However, these figures are maxima which overstate the position, because of under recording of decisions made earlier.

Mr. Cartwright

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many immigration officers are currently dealing with applications for political asylum in the United Kingdom; and what were the comparable figures one, three, five and 10 years previously.

Mr. Renton

The information centrally available does not distinguish the number of immigration officers who, as part of their duties, may currently be dealing with asylum applications, or might in the past have been so engaged. But the arrival of substantial numbers of Turkish asylum applications this year has significantly increased the demands on the resources of the immigration service.