§ Mrs. LaitTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many immigration cases are awaiting allocation to a case worker following receipt of application documents; for how many years the largest outstanding case has been waiting; and how many are from addresses in Beckenham constituency. [73112]
§ Beverley HughesI regret that the information requested is not available. We aim to decide 70 per cent. of all new general immigration applications on initial consideration within three weeks. At present such applications are taking on average around four weeks to decide but we are working to reduce this to three weeks as soon as possible. Applications that cannot be decided
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§ Beverley HughesAs at the end of December 2001, 4,7501,2 asylum seekers (including dependants) were being supported in National Asylum Support Service (NASS) accommodation in Glasgow. The cumulative number dispersed to Glasgow in 2001 is not currently available.
Information on the number of applications for asylum since 1997 which subsequently resulted in the granting of asylum or Exceptional Leave to Remain (ELR), or refusals, is not readily available, and could only be obtained by examination of individual case records at disproportionate cost.
1Figure rounded to the nearest 102Cases where support has been ceased are excluded from this figureInformation for 1997 to the first quarter of 2002 on applications for asylum, and initial decisions made, is shown in the table. (However these initial decisions do not all relate to applications made between 1997 and quarter one 2002). A proportion of applications that receive an initial refusal result in an appeal being lodged.
on initial consideration are allocated to a case management unit for further consideration. Some of these applications are, at present, taking up to 12 months to consider due to the large number of cases currently in the system. It is not possible to identify applications from addresses in Beckenham without scrutiny of individual case files at disproportionate cost.