Written question asked by Louise Ellman (Labour) on Wednesday, 6 May 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 11 May 2009. It was answered by Phil Woolas (Labour) on Monday, 1 June 2009 on behalf of the Home Office.

Asylum

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people are awaiting decisions as part of the legacy process; and how long on average those people have been waiting for a decision.

Answer: [holding answer 11 May 2009]: As of 9 January the UK Border Agency had concluded 155,500 older asylum cases. The previous Home Secretary informed Parliament in July 2006 of""the Immigration and Nationality Directorate's case load of around 400,000 to 450,000 electronic and paper records"."These include duplicate cases, cases of individuals who have since died or left the country, or are now EU citizens therefore it is not possible to provide an accurate assessment of how many cases are awaiting decisions. The chief executive of the UK Border Agency will update the Home Affairs Select Committee on case conclusion progress in the summer.To obtain the information requested about average waiting times of legacy cases would involve a detailed examination of individual case records which would incur a disproportionate cost.

Secondary information