Somalis (Hansard, 10 May 1991)

§ Mr. Parry
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will meet the Merseyside immigration unit to discuss the number of Somalis who are seeking to join their family in Liverpool.

§ Mr. Peter Lloyd
My right hon. Friend and I do not consider that a meeting at this time would be productive. If there are any particular problems of concern to the Merseyside immigration and advice unit, we should be happy to consider any written representation it wishes to make.

§ Mr. Parry
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Somali citizens are seeking settlement in(a) Liverpool and (b) Merseyside at the latest date.

§ Mr. Peter Lloyd
The available information is of the number of Somali nationals granted settlement in the United Kingdom, figures for which are published in table 15 of the Home Office Command Paper "Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom 1989"—Cmnd. 1124—a copy of which is in the Library.

§ Mr. Parry
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the average waiting time for Somali refugees to join their relatives in Liverpool at the most recent date.

§ Mr. Peter Lloyd
The average time between receipt of an application in the asylum division and a decision is 16 months.
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§ Mr. Parry
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any plans to improve replies from Lunar house to solicitors and community bodies concerning Somalis seeking settlement in the United Kingdom.

§ Mr. Peter Lloyd
Because of very large-scale increases in the number of asylum applications from Somalis and other nationalities and the concession operated by the Government for Somalis seeking to join their families in this country, a large amount of work continues to be generated in the asylum division of the immigration and nationality department. On 26 April my right hon. Friend announced a nearly fivefold increase in staff resources for this division. It will take time to recruit and train such a large number of additional staff, but I would expect that in due course decisions will be able to be taken more quickly than at present.