§ Sir Frederic Bennettasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for asylum in the United Kingdom have been received in each of the previous five years; and how many applications have been granted.
§ Mr. RaisonComprehensive statistics on such applications were not kept before 1 January 1979. In 1979, 1,550 individual applications were received; 708 of these were granted in that year and 619 were under consideration at the end of the year. In 1980, 3,044 applications were received; 1,413 applications were granted; and 1,566 applications remained under consideration at the end of the year.
The above figures do not include people admitted under the special programmes for Vietnamese and Latin American refugees. In 1979, 5,094 Vietnamese refugees were granted asylum in the United Kingdom; the figure for 1980 was 6,953. 60 people were admitted in 1979 under the special Latin American refugee programme and 96 in the first part of 1980; this programme was closed at the end of 1979.