HC Deb 01 July 1992 vol 210 cc554-5W
Mr. Cousins

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the outstanding backlog of naturalisation applications as at 1 January 1990, 1991, and 1992 and for the most recent available date; and what is the current rate at which applications are being cleared.

Mr. Charles Wardle

The numbers of outstanding applications for naturalisation on the dates referred to were as follows:

1Applications awaiting allocation Allocated applications
1 January 1990 2,914 64,930
1 January 1991 1,645 62,949
1 January 1992 6,266 38,382
1 June 1992 582 43,569
1 It is not possible at this stage to distinguish beween applications for naturalisation and those for registration.

These cases are currently being cleared at the rate of around 2,600 per month.