§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the present number of Sri Lankans living in the United Kingdom and awaiting a decision on their application for political asylum.
§ Mr. RentonIt is estimated that at the end of 1988 about 1,300 applications by Sri Lankans for asylum, made at the ports or following admission to the United Kingdom, were awaiting a decision. This figure is approximate. Establishing whether these applicants were all still in this country would incur disproportionate costs.
Estimates of the total number of asylum applications awaiting a decision (including those made outside of the United Kingdom), by nationality, are published annually in a Home Office statistical bulletin "Refugee Statistics United Kingdom" (tables 6 and 7 of issue No. 16/88). A more accurate estimate of the number of applications by Sri Lankans outstanding at the end of 1988 will be contained in the bulletin for 1988, due to be published in the summer of 1989.