HC Deb 01 May 1995 vol 259 cc97-8W
Mr. Gordon Prentice

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in his Department are employed on proposals for new local byelaws: and what is the average length of time taken to deal with applications in each year since 1990. [21230]

Mr. Nicholas Baker

The equivalent of 4.25 full-time staff work on applications for the approval of local byelaws.

The Home Office receives about 20 new applications per month for the approval of byelaws. The statistics which are currently maintained on outstanding applications are not in a form which would permit the average length of time taken to deal with them to be

Decisions on applications for asylum1 received in the United Kingdom, excluding dependants, by location of application, 1994
Number of principal applicants
Port applications In-Country2 Applications Total
Asylum applications3 10,230 22,600 32,830
Total Decisions3,4 6,340 10,805 20,990
Recognised as a refugee and granted asylum 300 530 825
Not recognised as a refugee, but granted exceptional leave to remain5 1,785 1,875 3,660
Total refused6 — — 16,500
Refused asylum and ELR after full consideration 4,255 8,400 12,655
Refused on safe third country grounds6 — — 865
Refused under para. 340 of the Immigration Rules6,7 — — 2,985
1 Provisional figures rounded to the nearest 5.2 The majority of in-country applicants have previously been granted leave to enter the UK in some non-asylum category.
3 Figures exclude information on applications made overseas.
4 Decisions do not necessarily relate to applications made in the same year.
5 Usually granted for a year in the first instance, subject then to further review.
6 Refusals on safe third count grounds, and refusals under para. 340 are not available split between port and in-country applications.
7 Para. 180F prior to 1 October 1994, for failure to provide evidence to support the asylum claim within a reasonable period.

Dr. Kim Howells

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what amount of legal aid was granted to rejected asylum seekers to pursue their appeals in each year since 1990 and in the first three months of 1995. [20763]

Mr. John M. Taylor

I have been asked to reply.

The Legal Aid Board does not record separately the cost of providing advice and assistance to asylum seekers in pursuit of their appeals to the Immigration appeals tribunal. It is therefore not possible to distinguish the cost of those cases from other cases involving immigration and nationality matters.

Dr. Howells

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many rejected asylum seekers pursued their appeals(a) with and (b) without the benefit calculated without disproportionate effort. However, the backlog of outstanding cases as at the end of March for the last five years is as follows:

  • March 1991: 196
  • March 1992: 186
  • March 1993: 143
  • March 1994: 179
  • March 1995: 158

Efforts are being made to tackle the backlog, which has been reduced by 25 per cent. over the last six months from a peak of 211 in October 1994. These efforts will continue.