HC Deb 10 December 2002 vol 396 cc236-7W
Dr. Starkey

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for permanent leave to remain have been made since January; how many were made in(a) 2001 and (b) 2000; what the average waiting time is to determine applications for permanent leave to remain; what the waiting time was in December (i) 2001 and (ii) 2000; what estimate he has made of how many extra staff would be needed to reduce the waiting time to three months; and if he will make it his policy that supporting documentation is copied upon receipt of the application and returned to the applicant while waiting for determination. [85751]

Beverley Hughes

The latest available information on the number of people granted settlement (permanent leave to remain) is as follows. Information on the number of applications made for settlement is not available.

  1. (a)106,820 granted settlement in 2001; and
  2. (b)125,090 granted settlement in 2000.

There are no published data on decision times to determine applications for settlement. Our aim is to screen all postal applications within three weeks. Most applications (i.e. those which are straightforward) are decided on an initial screening. Due to a busy period for immigration applications between September and November, the initial screening of new applications is at present taking up to eight weeks on average. We are working to reduce this to three weeks or less, but are unlikely to achieve that for the next two to three months because of the exceptionally high intake. Because of the high number of applications, some which need further inquiries or more detailed consideration can take over 12 months to decide. Information on general processing times for applications is provided to applicants on the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) website at www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk

We are looking at what extra resources will be required to provide a better service.

Where applications are handed into the Public Enquiry Office and cannot be completed on the day, the sponsor's passport is copied and handed back to the caller. We will extend this practice in January to those new postal applications where the application cannot be decided on initial consideration.