§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications were made for naturalisation; and what was the(a) average and (b) upper decile time taken to determine applications, in each year since 1997. [25999]
§ Angela Eagle[holding answer 11 January 2002]: Information on naturalisation applications received and on the upper decile time to determine applications is not available.
180WStatistics on the total number of applications for British citizenship received, 1997 to 2000, are given in the table. Data for 2001 will be published in the Home Office statistical bulletin "Persons Granted British Citizenship, 2001" in the summer this year.
Information on the average waiting time for citizenship are not routinely published. The most recent published information relates to March 2001, when the average waiting time was 11.6 months.
One of the Government's Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets is to reduce the average time taken to grant citizenship (naturalisations and registrations) to six months by the end of 2001–02. It is expected that performance on this target will be reported on in due course.
Applications for British citizenship received in the United Kingdom, 1997–2000 Number of persons Applications received 1997 66,000 1998 68,030 1999 67,400 2000 163,700 1 Provisional