Written question asked by Humfrey Malins (Conservative) on Monday, 6 June 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 8 June 2005. It was answered by Tony McNulty (Labour) on Monday, 13 June 2005 on behalf of the Home Office.

Asylum and Immigration

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time between initial decisions in asylum applications and the hearing of an appeal was in the last period for which figures are available.

Answer: Information on the average time between initial decisions in asylum applications and the hearing of an appeal is not available. This could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by examination of individual caserecords.The Home Office and the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) set a jointly owned public service agreement target for 2003–04 that 60 per cent. of substantive asylum applications (excluding withdrawals and third country cases) received from one April 2003 should have a decision, up to and including final appeal at the Immigration Appeal Tribunal, within six months.The Home Office and DCA exceeded this target with 64 per cent. of substantive applications received in the period April 2003 to March 2004 having had a final decision, up to and including appeals at the Immigration Appeal Tribunal, within six months.Information on asylum applications, initial decisions and appeals are published quarterly. The next publication covering the second quarter of 2005 will be available in August 2005 on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html

Secondary information