§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the current average length of time it takes his Department to process an application for(a) registration and (b) naturalisation.
§ Mr. RentonThe average time taken to complete applications for registrations and naturalisations in September 1989 was 20 and 24 months respectively. We anticipate that there will be a substantial improvement during 1990–91 when the backlog of 1987 registrations has been cleared.
§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the current backlog of unopened mail at the immigration and nationality department as at 17 October.
§ Mr. RentonOn 17 October there were 7,201 items of mail unopened. The average delay in opening correspondence, in order to deal with it. is about two weeks.