Written question asked by Mike Gapes (Labour), in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 20 March 1997. It was answered by Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Conservative) on Thursday, 20 March 1997 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: How many asylum seekers have been waiting more than five yea rs for a decision on their status; and what plans he has to recruit extra staff to deal with the backlog of cases. (Fail ed OPQ). - Includes figures.

Answer: Mr. Gapes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers have been waiting more than five years for a decision on their status; and what plans he has to recruit extra staff to deal with the backlog of cases. [19809] Mr. Kirkhope: About 4,460 applications for asylum made before 1992 are currently awaiting a decision. New arrangements for tackling the backlog of asylum applications made before the Asylum and Immigration Act 1993 are to be introduced in April, with the aim of producing a higher rate of decisions within the staff resources already allocated to this block of work. Generally, the number of asylum caseworkers has increased more than sevenfold since 1988 and the number of undecided asylum applications has fallen from 69,763 in January 1996 to 54,490 at the end of January 1997.

Secondary information