§ Kate HoeyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on progress with the processing of immigration applications made under the Regularisation of Overstayers Scheme; and if it is expected that the assessment of all applications made under that scheme will be completed by April 2003. [64565]
§ Beverley HughesDuring the last financial year (2001–02) a sift of all outstanding applications made under the Regularisation Scheme for Overstayers was successfully completed, yielding a total of 1,033 easily identifiable grants under existing policy concessions.
During the current financial year more detailed consideration is being given to the remaining cases. To date, 282 further grants have been identified, along with 81 refusals; 10,990 cases remain to be fully considered. The team assigned to dealing with these cases is currently under expansion, and individual caseworker output is gradually increasing with experience. It is anticipated that all applications made under the scheme will be assessed by April 2003.