§ Mr. ColemanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of asylum applications processed from 30 June until 1 October have met the targets set down in the Asylum and Immigration Bill(a) of being processed with an initial decision within eight weeks and (b) of being completed within six months; and if he will make a statement. [96258]
§ Mrs. RocheThe available information is that 15 per cent. of the asylum decisions that were recorded in the period 1 July to 30 September 1999 were taken within eight weeks. The information relates to the length of time between the date an asylum application was lodged and the date of the initial decision.
§ Mr. ColemanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what support mechanisms in terms of(a) legal advice, (b) interpretation services and (c) other specialist support will be put in place to assist those asylum seekers held at the new reception facility at Oakington. [96197]
§ Mrs. RocheDetailed arrangements have not yet been finalised. We will be discussing with all the relevant agencies, including refugee groups, what support mechanisms of this kind will be needed, bearing in mind that applicants will remain at the reception facility for short periods of about seven days.
§ Mr. ColemanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) single, (b) shared and (c) family rooms will be available at the new asylum seeker reception facility at Oakington. [96196]
§ Mrs. RocheThe detailed design work is still to be finalised. Separate accommodation in physically separated buildings will be provided for males, for females, and for family groups. Some accommodation units for males will be shared accommodation.
§ Mr. ColemanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions his Department has had with the local education authorities in Cambridgeshire to ensure that all children of asylum seekers held at the reception facility at Oakington will be offered full-time education. [96198]
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§ Mrs. RocheApplicants will reside at Oakington for short periods of about seven days. We will be discussing with all the relevant agencies what facilities need to be provided on site in those circumstances, but we do not envisage that full education facilities will be required.
§ Fiona MactaggartTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the average length of time that(a) single asylum seekers and (b) asylum seekers with child dependants who applied in each quarter of (i) 1997, (ii) 1998 and (iii) 1999 have waited for the Home Office decision on their case; [96092]
(2) how long on average (a) single asylum seekers and (b) asylum seekers with child dependants whose applications were decided in (i) September, (ii) August, (iii) July, (iv) June, (v) May, (vi) April, (vii) March, (viii) February and (ix) January waited for the decision on their case from his Department. [96091]
§ Mrs. RocheThe available information in given in the tables. Separate figures for single persons and for asylum seekers with dependant children are not at present available.
Average decision times in months1, 3 : January-September 1999 Month of decision All applications Applications lodged pre July 1993 Applications lodged post July 1993–95 Applications lodged post 1996 January 44 95 52 5 February 42 93 53 5 March 42 92 49 8 April 31 88 49 12 May 27 87 50 13 June 37 86 53 14 July 48 84 55 10 August 49 85 55 10 September 49 88 56 10
Average decision times in months2, 3, 4 for asylum applications lodged on a quarterly basis: 1997–1999 Quarter of application Average decision time 1997 January-March 8 April-June 7 July-September 7 October-December 7 1998 January-March 6 April-June 6 July-September 5 October-December 5 1999 January-March 4 April-June 2 July-September 1 1 The average length of time (in months) relates to the month in which the application was made. 2 The average length of time (in months) relates to the quarter in which the application was made. 3 Excluding dependants. 4 Does not include applications awaiting an initial decision.
§ Mr. MalinsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of persons whose immigration and asylum appeals are pending and with whom the authorities have lost contact. [95944]
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§ Mrs. RocheWe would only know that we had lost contact with an appellant if he or she failed to respond to official communications or failed to attend an appeal hearing. Figures are not collected centrally and it is therefore not possible to give any realistic estimate of the numbers involved.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to meet his target of processing asylum applications within six months. [96937]
§ Mrs. RocheThe White Paper "Fairer, Faster and Firmer—a modern approach to immigration and asylum" set out our proposals to deliver a more effective asylum system, including deciding asylum applications within an average of two months and determining asylum appeals within an average of four months. We are committed to meeting the White Paper target of achieving this by April 2001.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his provisional timetable for offering to competitive tender the administration of the asylum voucher scheme and for awarding a contract. [96935]
§ Mrs. RocheInvitations to negotiate were issued on 22 October. The contract will be awarded via the European Community negotiated procedures route. It is expected that contracts will be awarded at the end of the year.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his planned timetable for the establishment of a Next Steps agency for asylum seeker support; and if he will make a statement. [96939]
§ Mrs. RocheThe support arrangements in Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Bill will be administered from within the Immigration and Nationality Directorate of the Home Office. It is not intended that this work will be overseen by a Next Steps agency in the first instance. However, the position will be kept under review.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on how he proposes to phase-in the transfer to the planned new arrangements for asylum support of people who will already be asylum seekers on 31 March 2000. [96938]
§ Mrs. RocheWhen the new support arrangements take effect in April 2000, the first priority will be to deal with those claiming asylum and support after 1 April 2000. It is likely that those who are in receipt of social security benefits will remain on those benefits until they get a first negative decision. In the event that this is a refusal and the asylum seekers go on to appeal, they would need to transfer to the new support arrangements.
We are separately holding discussions with local authorities, through the Local Government Association, about appropriate arrangements for the transfer of asylum seekers who are being supported by local authority social services departments.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his provisional timetable for offering to competitive tender the provision of accommodation for asylum seekers and for awarding a contract. [96936]
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§ Mrs. RocheInvitations to tender were issued on 25 October. It is expected that contracts for the supply of accommodation will be awarded at the end of January. It is possible that further competitive tenders will be required. In addition, we are separately negotiating with local authorities about the accommodation that they can make available for supporting asylum seekers.