§ Mr. Bill O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications from(a) long stay and (b) indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom there were from (i) wives of UK men and (ii) husbands of UK women as at 31 December 2001. [28025]
§ Angela EagleI regret that information on individual types of cases undecided cannot be determined.
§ Mr. Bill O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average length of time was taken to process the application of a wife of a UK citizen who has been married for over 12 months and living in the UK, over the most recent 12 months for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [28026]
§ Angela EagleWe do not routinely publish average processing times for individual types of application. We aim to decide all straightforward applications within three weeks, but at present it is taking up to eight weeks due to the exceptionally high number of applications received in 2001, especially in recent months, and process changes 843W which are being introduced to improve our longer term performance. We are working to reduce this to three weeks as soon as possible.