HC Deb 09 May 2002 vol 385 cc330-2W
Mr. McNamara

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of child asylum seekers, broken down by(a) those seeking asylum with an adult and (b) those unaccompanied were from each country in each year since 1995. [54111]

Angela Eagle

[holding answer 7 May 2002]: The table shows the number of unaccompanied children who have made an asylum application in the period January 1995 to August 2001, inclusive.

I regret that reliable information on the number of children who have applied for asylum in the United Kingdom, accompanied by an adult, is not readily available and could be obtained only by examination of individual case records and is, therefore, available only at disproportionate cost.

Information on unaccompanied minors is published annually in the statistical bulletin "Asylum Statistics United Kingdom", a copy of which is available in the Library, and

Unaccompanied1,2,3 children, aged 17 or under, applying for asylum in the United Kingdom, by nationality, 1995 to 2001
Number of principal applicants
Nationality 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 20004 20014,5
Europe
Albania 6 14 39 49 126 94 46
Czech Republic — — 2 6 29 18 22
FRY — — 119 1,529 1,522 666 312
Poland 5 15 18 44 47 13 20
Romania 9 13 32 68 86 40 33
Russia — — 2 2 3 2 2
Turkey 41 71 48 107 116 153 75
Ukraine — — — 2 1 4 1
Other former USSR 8 2 10 36 26 24 22
Other former Yugoslavia 14 50 107 24 32 36 100
Other 5 12 30 9 8 3 —
Total 88 177 407 1,876 1,996 1,053 633
Americas
Colombia 6 14 26 9 18 5 4
Ecuador 2 5 4 5 13 7 —
Other 1 1 1 6 9 4 6
Total 9 20 31 20 40 16 10
Africa
Algeria — 2 21 50 12 23 12
Angola 17 10 12 10 42 102 101
Dem Republic Congo 21 15 27 19 33 47 43
Ethiopia 52 21 23 66 54 62 79
Gambia 20 — — — — — 1
Ghana 8 7 1 2 1 10 2
Kenya 19 31 9 23 12 8 8
Nigeria 24 15 18 53 45 24 26
Rwanda 2 1 7 13 35 49 20
Sierra Leone 6 3 14 23 65 74 88
Somalia 71 68 158 153 189 177 132
Sudan 1 — 3 4 6 9 5
Tanzania 48 10 1 3 1 3 1
Uganda 10 6 5 9 10 26 22
Zimbabwe 2 — — — 6 34 21
Other 34 41 65 107 121 151 453
Total 335 230 364 535 632 799 677
Middle East
Iran 3 2 7 8 14 65 20
Iraq 12 16 20 30 58 112 125
Other 1 5 5 7 16 14 16
Total 16 23 32 45 88 191 161
Asia
Afghanistan 50 48 109 124 213 300 563
Bangladesh 5 3 3 2 4 4 8
China 26 56 78 301 166 117 72
India 8 14 6 9 13 14 12
Pakistan 3 7 4 12 19 25 17
Sri Lanka 53 40 40 91 127 170 116
Other — 2 6 10 10 25 51
Total 145 170 246 549 552 655 839
Other, and nationality not known 4 11 22 12 41 19 23
Grand total 597 631 1,102 3,037 3,349 2,733 2,343
1 Unaccompanied at the point of their arrival, and not known to be joining a close relative in the United Kingdom.
2May exclude some cases lodged at Local Enforcement Offices between January 1999 and March 2000.
3Figures exclude disputed age cases.
4Provisional figures.
52001 figures include January to August only. August is the latest month for which data are available.

from the research development and statistics website:http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigrationl.html.