HC Deb 30 November 1994 vol 250 cc697-9W
Mr. Corbyn

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the current average wait for asylum applications; and how many applicants have

Response times1 to fires in London, 1992 and 1993
1992 1993
Response time(minutes) Number of fires Cumulative Percentage Number of fires Cumulative Percentage
11 59 99.2 57 99.3
12 29 99.4 36 99.5
Over 12 minutes or unknown 129 100.0 105 100.0
1 The interval between the time of the first call taken by the brigade and the time the first appliance arrived at the fireground.

Source:

Home Office fire statistics

Mr. Chidgey

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the data he has for the response times for fire appliances in Hampshire in Mr. Nicholas Baker: The data requested are shown in the table:

waited for (a) six months, (b) one year, (c) two years and (d) over two years.

Mr. Nicholas Baker

The estimated average length of time between the receipt of an asylum application and the decision, for cases decided in the period 1 August 1994 to 31 October 1994, on applications received since the introduction of the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993 on 26 July 1993 was 6.8 months.

In the period 1 August 1994 to 31 October 1994, there were 6,105 decisions made on applications for asylum. Of these, 1,600 took under six months to decide; 1,525 took between six months and a year; 1,385 took between one and two years; and 1,595 took longer than two years for an initial decision on their application for asylum.

Mr. Corbyn

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the length of time each detained asylum seeker has been held in custody; what review he undertook of their cases; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Nicholas Baker

On 18 November 1994, 654 people who had claimed asylum at some stage were detained under powers contained in the Immigration Act 1991. Of this total, 167 had been detained for less than 1 month; 125 between one and two months; 233 between two and six months; and 129 had been in detention for more than six months.

The initial decision to detain is reviewed within 24 hours by an immigration service inspector. Thereafter, all detention is reviewed locally at least every seven days. After one month the case is reviewed at immigration service headquarters. These reviews continue monthly and at an increasingly senior level. In addition, I receive a monthly report on all cases where detention has been maintained for more than 12 months.