§ Miss WiddecombeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the current time taken for asylum appeals is from being received by the Appeals Support Section to final determination; and if he will make a statement. [159922]
§ Mrs. RocheWe record the date of receipt into the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND), not the date received by the Appeals Support Section of IND, on our systems and therefore the data requested are not available. However, for the 12 months ending 31 March 2001, data from the Immigration Appellate Authority (IAA) for those cases where data are available indicate that the average time taken from receipt of an asylum appeal by IND, to the appeal being decided through both tiers of the authority, was approximately 28 weeks.