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 percentage of asylum applications received an initial decision within (a) one month, (b) two months and (c) three months of application in the last period for which figures are available.

Answer: 21 per cent. of applications (excluding withdrawals and third country cases) received in October to December 2004 had initial decisions reached and served within one month (1), 77 per cent. within two months (1) and 83 per cent. within three months (1).Information on the timeliness of asylum cases is published in the quarterly asylum statistics on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html

Secondary information