§ Mr. ChurchillTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 3 February,Official Report, columns 896–98, (1) how many and what proportion of in-country asylum seekers who were refused both asylum and exceptional leave to remain in 1992 to 1994 have been removed; how many of the balance remain in detention; how many others are required to report regularly to the police or immigration authorities; and in how many cases their addresses are unknown to the authorities;
(2) how many and what proportion of those citizens of foreign countries, whose in-country application for asylum or exceptional leave to remain were refused in the years 1992 to 1994 have not been removed or left voluntarily; what assessment he has made of the reasons for this; what steps he proposes to take to secure their removal; what reasons underlie the exclusion of people in this category from the statistics published by his Department for inward immigration to the United Kingdom; and if he will now publish revised figures in respect of each of the past five years including those and other categories of illegal entrants known to his Department
§ Mr. Nicholas BakerI refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to his question on 3 February 1995,Official Report, columns 896–98, which provided the available information on the number of refusals of in-country applications for asylum in 1992–1994, and the number of removals and voluntary departures in 1992–94, of failed in-country asylum applicants. Information before 1992 is not available. Those removed are not necessarily included in the figures for those refused in the same time period and thus it is not possible to determine the proportion of refusals who were not removed.
In-country asylum applicants are included in the Department's statistics on the number entering the United Kingdom who are subject to immigration control, most of whom enter as visitors or students. These figures are published in table 3.1 of the Command Paper "Control of Immigration Statistics 1993". In addition, separate statistics on asylum applications are published annually in the Home Office statistical bulletin "Asylum Statistics UK 1993". Copies of both are available in the Library.
The available figures for departures relating to those refused asylum or exceptional leave to remain are for those removed or who embark voluntarily after deportation or illegal entry action has commenced against them. The difference in the published statistics between the number refused asylum or exceptional leave to remain and the number removed or who voluntarily departed in a given year will include persons who are awaiting the 756W outcome of an appeal; are allowed to remain after a successful appeal; have withdrawn their claim for asylum; have left the country before steps had been taken to enforce their departure; and those granted permission to stay in another capacity, for example, marriage.
Removal of failed asylum seekers who fail to leave of their own volition is possible only after all rights of appeal in this country have been exhausted. At that stage, the immigration service will take the appropriate steps to trace and remove failed asylum seekers.
As at 30 January 1995, 225 persons who had applied for asylum in country were detained, pending the outcome of an appeal or awaiting removal. In addition, as at 13 February 1995, 1,773 persons who had applied for asylum in-country and had been refused asylum or exceptional leave between 1992 to 1994, were placed on restriction orders or granted temporary admission, requiring them to report to the police on a regular basis and/or restricting their place of residence. A further 220 persons are known to have absconded or are classified as missing.
§ Mr. ChurchillTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 3 February,Official Report, columns 896–98, by what date at the present rate of progress, he expects to clear the backlog of 55,255 applications for asylum dependants, outstanding at 31 December 1994; of these how many entered the United Kingdom claiming some grounds other than as asylum seekers; and how many are being detained under secure conditions.
§ Mr. Nicholas BakerThe rate at which the backlog of undecided asylum applications can be reduced will depend in part on the number of applications received in the future. It is therefore not possible to give a reliable forecast of when it might be reduced to a minimum working level. Information is not available on the proportion of the backlog that applied in country for asylum.
As at 30 January 1995, 139 persons were detained who are awaiting an initial decision on their asylum applications.