HL Deb 30 June 1998 vol 591 cc68-9WA
The Countess of Mar

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How may appeals to (a) adjudicators and (b) the tribunal are currently outstanding for (i) asylum and (ii) other cases; and at what rate these cases are being heard. [HL2331]

The Lord Chancellor

As at the end of May 1998 there were 21,255 asylum and 6,429 non-asylum adjudicator appeals outstanding. These are being disposed of at a rate of 1,600 asylum appeals per month. At the same time there were 1,006 asylum applications and 1,378 asylum tribunal appeals outstanding. There were an additional 844 and 1,460 non-asylum applications and appeals outstanding respectively. These are being disposed of at an average rate of nearly 1,200 per month.

The Countess of Mar

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What was the total number of asylum appeals heard by the Immigration Appeal Tribunal in 1996 and 1997; and how many of these cases were returned to adjudicators for hearing de novo by the Immigration Appeal Tribunal. [HL2332]

The Lord Chancellor

There were 2,435 tribunal appeals (not applications) heard during 1997–98, 1,957 during 1996–97 (estimated figure) and 1,230 during 1995–96. There are no reliable data currently available to distinguish the number, or proportion, of appeals returned to adjudicatorsde novo from the tribunal.