§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, in view of the fact that 16 months have passed since the publication of the White Paper, Fairer, Faster and Firmer—A Modern Approach to Immigration and Asylum, they now consider that, where an application was made before 1 November 1994, "delay in itself will normally be considered so serious as to justify, as a matter of fairness, the grant of indefinite leave to enter or remain", since the applicants in question will have waited for the same length of time as those who applied before 1 July 1993 at the date of the White Paper, to whom that argument was applied by paragraph 8.29 of the White Paper. [HL105]
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonNo. The White Paper made clear that these backlogs would be cleared over a period of time, with a target of completion by April 2001. Applications made in the period between 1 July 1993 and 31 December 1995 are being, and will continue to be, decided according to the criteria in paragraph 8.30 of the White Paper.