§ The Earl of Sandwichasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many asylum seekers have had their initial applications wrongly refused over each of the past three years, both in-country and at the port of entry; and what proportion they were of all those who were eventually granted asylum. [HL1351]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Filkin)The available information is given in the table. Comparable figures are not available for those cases which were successful after appeal to the Immigration Appellate Tribunal (IAT) or higher courts, but a very small proportion is involved.
Appeals may be allowed on a number of grounds and may reflect additional information not provided to the Home Office or changed circumstances, and therefore do not necessarily indicate that the initial refusal was incorrect.
37WA
Estimated1 outcomes of asylum applications made in 2000 and in 2001 Number of principal applicants 2000 2001 p Asylum applications2 80,315 71,365 Percentage of applications of which—decisions by Home Office3 4 Granted asylum (indefinite leave to remain)4 10 10 Not recognised as a refugee but granted exceptional leave to remain4 13 22 Refused asylum and exceptional leave to remain4 77 68 of which—Appeals by the IAA 11 10
Estimated1 outcomes of asylum applications made in 2000 and in 2001 Number of principal applicants 2000 2001 p of which—Granted asylum indefinite leave to remain)5 10 9 Granted exceptional leave to remain5 1 1 Summary of estimated outcomes (including appeal outcomes at IAA)3 5 Recognised as a refugee and granted asylum (indefinite leave to remain) 19 19 Not recognised as a refugee but granted exceptional leave to remain 14 23 Refused asylum and exceptional leave to remain 66 59 p provisional 1 The figures for 2000 are estimates because new electronic recording systems were first used in April 2000, and the figures for 2001 are estimated because a proportion of applications made in 2001 was awaiting the outcome of initial decisions or of appeals at the time of data production. 2 May exclude some cases lodged at local enforcement offices between January 1999 and March 2000. 3 Percentages may not sum to totals or to 100 per cent due to rounding. 4 Exclude cases withdrawn at the initial decision stage. Includes outcomes of reconsideration cases—these refer to asylum decisions which later require to be reconsidered as a result of additional information and or significant changes in current circumstances and country information. 5 Estimated breakdown of appeals between ILR and ELR is based on internal management information on grants made in January-July 2002 following allowed appeals. Source:
Asylum Statistics United Kingdom 2001, paragraph 24 and Table 1.1.
Asylum statistics are published quarterly. The latest published figures give information up to and including September 2002. The next publication giving figures up to and including December 2002 will be available from 28 February 2003 on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
§ The Earl of Sandwichasked Her Majesty's Government:
What plans they have to provide smaller accommodation centres for asylum seekers in urban areas. [HL1352]
§ Lord FilkinAt least one of the trial centres will be smaller than the 750-bed centres that we are pursuing at DSDC Bicester and RAF Newton. It may be that such a centre, because of its smaller size, can be in or on the edge of an urban area. We are also continuing to discuss with the Refugee Council its idea of a core and cluster accommodation centre.
Site searching has continued since we made our initial announcement in January 2002, as we said it would. In addition to the sites we have identified ourselves, a number have been put forward by potential bidders. We shall not be putting into the public domain details of such sites unless and until they are considered to be serious prospects for the siting of an accommodation centre.