HC Deb 15 May 2000 vol 350 c49W
Mr. Clappison

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 8 May 2000,Official Report, columns 310–11W, on persons served with notice as clandestine illegal entrants, if he will indicate in each case how many of such persons have claimed asylum. [121572]

Mrs. Roche

Precise information on the numbers of those persons issued with notice of illegal entry as clandestine entrants who had also claimed asylum is not contained in the central records and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

However, it is possible to deduce from the available data that at least 81 per cent. of those clandestine illegal entrants who were issued with a notice of illegal entry between 1 April 1999 and 31 March 2000 had also applied for asylum. It should be noted that this is a bare minimum and the actual percentage may well be higher than this.