§ Mr. WyattTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many asylum seekers claimed benefits in(a) Kent and (b) other parts of the UK during the most recent period for which figures are available. [147082]
§ Mr. BayleyThis is a matter for Alexis Cleveland, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. She will write to my hon. Friend.
Letter from Alexis Cleveland to Mr. Derek Wyatt, dated 25 January 2001:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about how many asylum seekers claimed benefits in (a) Kent and (b) other parts of the UK during the most recent period for which figures are available.The information is not available in the requested format. The Benefits Agency (BA) collects statistics by BA District rather than county and covers Great Britain not the United Kingdom.The number of asylum seeker benefit claims processed by benefit offices in the Kent area from April to December 2000 was 53. The Kent area comprises of the Ashford, Bromley, Canterbury, Chatham, Dover, Folkestone, Gravesend, Maidstone and Sittingbourne BA offices.For the same period, the number of asylum seeker benefit claims processed in the rest of Great Britain was 4,509 giving a Great Britain total number of 4,562.I hope this is helpful.