§ Mr. HendersonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff and of what grades are employed in the Home Office asylum 261W division; and what were the figures (a) on 1 January 1996, (b) on 1 January 1993, (c) on 1 January 1990 and (d) on 1 January 1988. [7792]
§ Mr. KirkhopeThe information available is given in the following table:
Grade 1988 1990 1 January 1993 1 January 1996 30 November 1996 5 1— 1 1 1 1 6 — — 1 1 1 7 — — 3 5 5 Senior Executive Officer — — 19 22 25 Higher Executive Officer — — 37 76 85 Higher Executive Officer (Development) 0 0 0 2 0 Executive Officer — — 155 268 289 Administrative Officer — — 203 227 190 Assistant Identification Officer 0 0 0 7 0 Administration Assistant — — 120 157 150 Personal Secretary — — 3 4 4 Total 52 86 542 770 749 1 Indicates figures not available. The asylum division, now directorate, was formed in April 1991. Before then, asylum determination staff were part of a division which also did other work, and the figures given for 1988 and 1990 represent the total number of staff dealing specifically with applications for asylum. No breakdown by grades of staff is available for those years.