HC Deb 10 February 2000 vol 344 cc250-1W
Mr. Sanders

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the total number of asylum seekers registering in each EU country(a) in the last 10 years, (b) in each of those years and (c) in total for each country ranked by number of asylum seekers per 1,000 of population. [109182]

Mrs. Roche

Information on asylum applications received by each European Union country is collated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The annual figures for 1990 to 1999 for each European Union country are given in table 1.

Table 2 shows the number of asylum applications per 1,000 of population within each European Union country.

Table 2: The number of asylum applications within European Union countries compared to their respective population sizes
Countries Asylum applications in 1999 Estimated population in 1998 Asylum seekers per 1,000 of population
Luxembourg 2,900 430,000 6.79
Belgium3 35,800 10,141,000 3.53
Netherlands 39,300 15,678,000 2.51
Austria 20,100 8,140,000 2.47
Ireland 7,700 3,681,000 2.10
Sweden 11,200 8,875,000 1.27
Denmark 6,500 5,270,000 1.23
UK3 71,200 58,649,000 1.21
Germany2,3 95,300 82,133,000 1.16
Finland1 2,800 5,154,000 0.55
France3 30,100 58,683,000 0.51
Italy 13,900 57,369,000 0.24
Spain 7,100 39,628,000 0.24
1 Includes a government estimate for December 1999.
2 "New" applications only, that is, excluding applications which are "re-opened".
3 Applications exclude some or all dependants.
4 Indicates that value is zero, rounded to zero, or not applicable. Data refer to the number of persons unless otherwise stated.

Notes:

1. Applications rounded to the nearest 100.

2. Estimated population in 1998 rounded to the nearest 1,000, 1999 population not yet available.

3. n/a indicates not available.

4. The figures for Greece, Italy and Portugal are unavailable.

Source:

UNHCR and The Home Office.

Kali Mountford

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has taken to ensure that current overstayers will not lose the right to a suspensive appeal against a decision to remove them taken after 1 October. [109670]

Mrs. Roche

I refer my hon. Friend, to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow (Mr. Gerrard) on 9 February 2000,Official Report, column 167W.