§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum application forms submitted in each month since 1 January have been returned because the applicant provided no proper address; and if he will make a statement. [142435]
§ Mrs. RocheSince 31 August, postal applications submitted without the full address of the applicant have been returned with a request for the address to be given. This measure was introduced to ensure that basic information about the applicant was available to help deter fraudulent or multiple applications. The application is recorded once the address has been provided, except for applicants living in London who are first required to come to Croydon for screening. Reliable information on the number of applications returned for the address to be provided is not available, but is estimated to be about 450 a month on average.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers are being supported by each local authority; and if he will make a statement. [142468]
§ Mrs. RocheThe table gives records of the number of support weeks provided by local authorities to single adults and to families in the period 1 April to 29 September 2000. This information has been taken from the un-audited asylum support grant claims for the period and some authorities have not yet submitted claims.
90W
Number of support weeks provided 1 April to 29 September 2000 Local authority Single adults Families Barking and Dagenham 17,490 14,386 Barnet 6,939 9,188 Barnsley 1,584 328 Bath and North East Somerset 131 0 Bedfordshire 6,100 1,168 Bexley 2,769 1,674 Birmingham 12,487 4,661 Blackpool 623 0 Bolton Metro 1,125 430 Bournemouth 3,035 486 Bradford 897 521 Brent 11,451 13,002 Brighton and Hove 4,732 554 Bristol City 6,425 1,026 Bromley 3,630 3,317 Buckinghamshire 1,097 196 Bury 683 340 Caerphilly County 156 0 Calderdale 46l 83 Cambridgeshire 4,827 796 Camden 11,702 9,335 Cardiff 1,993 618 Ceredigion CC 1 0 Cheshire 427 217 City of Newcastle 6,255 971 Conwy CBC 25 0 Cornwall 46 0 Corporation of London 3,086 927 Coventry 2,134 445 Croydon 3,624 4,665 Cumbria 36 26 Darlington 26 0 Denbighshire County 26 0 Derby 3,857 720 Derbyshire 202 0 Devon 914 42 Dorset 926 58
91W
Number of support weeks provided 1 April to 29 September 2000 Local authority Single adults Families Dudley 614 290 Ealing 9,706 7,119 East Riding of Yorkshire 184 26 East Sussex 3,221 593 Enfield 14,954 15,533 Flintshire 26 0 Gateshead 1,114 52 Gloucestershire 3,150 443 Greenwich 13,563 6,925 Hackney 20,265 13,248 Halton 26 8 Hammersmith and Fulham 16,449 11,885 Hampshire 1,407 290 Haringey 34,486 28,777 Havering 5,938 2,592 Herefordshire 89 39 Hertfordshire 11,832 2,227 Hillingdon 22,306 5,828 Hounslow 3,903 6,502 Isle of Wight 32 6 Islington 60,840 14,956 Kensington and Chelsea 20,109 9,349 Kent 116,823 14,867 Kingston Upon Hull 2,248 378 Kingston Upon Thames 1,998 1,641 Kirklees 1,290 541 Knowsley 344 405 Lambeth 20,676 14,877 Lancashire 303 136 Leeds 2,221 585 Leicester 4,788 1,853 Leicestershire 1,611 642 Lewisham 25,305 12,709 Lincolnshire 2,897 447 Liverpool 4,928 1,196 Luton 12,142 3,850 Manchester 14,158 4,989 Medway 743 180 Merthyr Tydfil County 26 0 Merton 5,482 5,775 Middlesbrough 1,334 285 Milton Keynes 4,980 1,610 Newham 33,753 35,168 Newport County 303 111 Norfolk 4,199 583 North East Lincolnshire 1,724 170 North Lincolnshire 117 26 North Somerset 351 73 North Tyneside 606 212 North Yorkshire 210 47 Northamptonshire 36,584 2,771 Northumberland 22 0 Nottingham 2,741 310 Nottinghamshire 845 157 Oldham 246 297 Oxfordshire 21,288 5,206 Pembrokeshire 154 0 Peterborough 1,707 400 Plymouth 344 254 Poole 64 78 Portsmouth 7,655 703 Reading 8,187 2,140 Redbridge 25,193 10,729 Redcar and Cleveland 948 185 Rhondda Cynon Taff County 102 17 Richmond Upon Thames 17,890 6,134 Rochdale 572 468 Rotherham 1,157 494 Rutland 142 26 Salford 1,920 651 Sandwell 5,517 1,041 Sheffield 10,997 5,003 Slough 19,331 9,180
Number of support weeks provided 1 April to 29 September 2000 Local authority Single adults Families Solihull 462 101 Somerset 246 87 South Gloucestershire 380 182 South Tyneside 26 289 Southampton 10,662 698 Southend on Sea 5,108 2,238 Southwark 36,564 15,351 St. Helens 46 0 Staffordshire 2,553 260 Stockport 603 424 Stockton on Tees 87 48 Stoke on Trent 1,453 104 Suffolk 2,455 274 Sunderland 1,013 78 Surrey 7,797 882 Sutton 5,180 2,400 Swindon 1,785 370 Tameside 546 158 Telford and Wrekin 360 26 Thurrock 6,520 1,633 Tower Hamlets 9,234 4,139 Trafford 410 322 Vale of Glamorgan 156 26 Wakefield 2,493 318 Walsall 526 187 Waltham Forest 21,360 10,908 Wandsworth 4,841 6,989 Warrington 143 0 West Berkshire 179 75 West Sussex 3,150 572 Westminster 19,106 12,203 Wigan 1,021 123 Wiltshire 428 135 Windsor and Maidenhead 80 113 Wokingham 233 155 Wolverhampton 814 370 Worcestershire 1,327 322 York 242 27 Cyngor Gwynedd Council 5 0 The Home Office does not hold records for each authority of the individual asylum seekers receiving support.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average cost is of supporting(a) a single asylum seeker and (b) a family for seven days; and if he will make a statement. [142428]
§ Mrs. RocheFor the first six months of 2000–01 the average cost to the Home Office of supporting a single asylum seeker for seven days is estimated at £119 and £241 for a family.
These figures cover single adult asylum seekers and asylum seeking families on social security benefits, as well as those supported by local authorities under the interim scheme and by the National Asylum Support Service.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his Department's handling of the asylum application of N. Asur Saribal. [142427]
§ Mrs. RocheIt is the general policy of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate not to disclose any information it may hold on an individual to third parties unless requested to do so by, or with the written consent of, the individual concerned or their authorised representative.
92W
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) in how many asylum cases since 1 May 1997 an applicant has been successful after the Home Office had pleaded that the application should be refused under Article 1F(b) of the 1951 Convention; [142455]
(2) how many applications for asylum awaiting an initial or appeal decision have been made by people who (a) have been convicted of and (b) have been charged with a serious criminal offence in their country of origin; [142453]
(3) how many applications for asylum in each of the last five years have been refused under Article 1F(b) of the 1951 Convention on the grounds that the applicant had been convicted of a serious non-political criminal offence outside his country of refuge. [142454]
§ Mrs. RocheI regret that this information could be obtained only by examination of individual case records and is, therefore, available only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) family and (b) non-family asylum applications made since 1 April received an initial decision within two months. [142429]
§ Mrs. Roche37,095 asylum seekers made applications between 1 April 2000 and 30 September 2000 of which 2,890 were families.
Approximately two thirds of new substantive family applications lodged between 1 April 2000 and 30 September 2000 had an initial decision within two months. Information on non-family applications is not at present available.