§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the backlog of cases for each of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate's divisions on 5 May. [795]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienThe latest available information relates to the end of April 1997 and is given in the table.
Cases outstanding1 in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate at 30 April 1997 2Number After Entry and Appeals Directorate3 20,400 Asylum Directorate4 52,400 European Directorate 3,300 Nationality Directorate 61,500 Immigration Service Enforcement Directorate5 19,200 Finance and Services Directorate6 6,700 1Includes unactioned cases and work in progress. 2 To the nearest hundred. 3 Including referred entry clearance applications and appeals awaiting preparation of statements. 4 Cases awaiting an initial decision and asylum appeals awaiting validation and preparation. 5Excluding just over 20,000 cases where illegal entry papers have been served but there is an outstanding asylum appeal/application; these cases are included in the Asylum Directorate figure. 6Items of correspondence (mainly passports, letters and new applications being sorted and allocated to caseworkers).