§ Sir Teddy TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons have applied for political asylum in the United Kingdom in each of the five most recent 12 month periods; how many of those applicants in each year have had their request rejected; and how many have been deported in consequence. [102626]
§ Mrs. RocheThe requested information is given in the tables.
151W
Removals and voluntary departures 12 under port or enforcement procedures of asylum applicants, excluding dependants, 1995–99 Year Number 1995 3,180 1996 4,840 1997 7,160 1998 6,900 19991 7,740 1Does not include persons who may leave the United Kingdom without informing the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. 2 Includes persons departing voluntarily after enforcement action had been initiated against them. 3Provisional figure for 12 months ending 31 October. Note:
All figures are rounded to 10.
§ Sir Teddy TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which organisation within his Department has the responsibility for arranging the deportation of asylum seekers whose applications are rejected; and what assessment has been made of the manner in which these responsibilities are undertaken. [102628]
§ Mrs. RocheThe Immigration Service is responsible for arranging for the removal from the United Kingdom of asylum seekers whose applications are refused. This includes those who are removed following deportation action. The Immigration Service is on target to meet the target of 8,000 removals in the current financial year. Targets for future years were set out in the annex to the White Paper "Fairer, Faster and Firmer—A Modern Approach to Immigration and Asylum" which was published in July 1998. These targets are currently being reviewed.
The review of immigration procedures which preceded the White Paper's proposals identified a number of changes which we considered necessary to improve the enforcement of the immigration control. The Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 enables a number of these to be given effect. The performance of the Immigration Service is kept under constant review in order to encourage the adoption of best practice, ensure that priorities are dealt with and identify options for improving performance.
§ Sir Teddy TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what records are kept of those persons who apply for political asylum and have their cases rejected; and how many such persons remain in the United Kingdom. [102627]
§ Mrs. RocheRecords are kept on all persons applying for asylum. These case files identify the initial decision, the outcome of any appeal, port or enforcement action taken subsequently and the removal of the person from the country. However, we do not have data available on how many asylum applicants have voluntarily left the country without the knowledge of the Home Office. Therefore, it is not possible to make a reliable estimate of the number of failed asylum seekers remaining in the country.