HC Deb 14 December 2000 vol 359 cc241-2W
Mr. Lidington

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many asylum appeal cases awaiting a decision there were at 31 December(a) 1996, (b) 1997, (c) 1998, (d) 1999 and (e) at the end of each month in 2000. [142780]

Jane Kennedy

Asylum appeals outstanding at Adjudicator level on each of the dates specified were as follows(a) 31 December 1996–20,455 (b) 31 December 1997–22,482 (c) 31 December 1998–12,602 (d) 31 December 1999–4,327 (e) 31 January 2000–3,825 29 February 2000–3,581 31 March 2000–3,805 30 April 2000–4,354 31 May 2000–5,048 30 June 2000–6,957 31 July 2000–9,894 31 August 2000–11,853 30 September 2000–13,233 31 October 2000–14,216 30 November 2000–14,641.

These figures represent all cases within the system at the relevant points in time. The increase in cases in the system over the last few months reflects the higher throughput of cases as the capacity of the Appeals system has increased significantly.

Asylum appeals outstanding at Tribunal level on each of the dates specified were as follows: (c) 31 December 1996–207 (d) 31 December 1997–1,018 (c) 31 December 1998–1,703 (d) 31 December 1999–2,050 (e) 31 January 2000–1,996 29 February 2000–1,725 31 March 2000–950 30 April 2000–755 31 May 2000–576 30 June 2000–492 31 July 2000–471 31 August 2000–424 30 September 2000–401 31 October 2000–432 30 November 2000–491.

Once again these figures represent all cases within the system at the relevant points in time.