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Home Office

Answer

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many failed asylum seekers he estimates are in the UK without legal basis for their presence; and how many are failed Iraqi asylum seekers. [150621] Beverley Hughes: Information on the total number of asylum seekers currently in the UK, including failed asylum seekers, is not currently available. This could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by examination of individual case records. Even such an exercise, however, would not produce a valid estimate as some applicants may leave the United Kingdom without informing the Immigration Service. The Government have commissioned research into the methods used in other countries to estimate the size of the illegal population in order to define methods appropriate for the UK. The work required is challenging because, by definition, illegal migrants fall outside of official statistics and are therefore difficult to measure. People illegally present in the UK are also motivated to ensure they remain hidden, further compounding the difficulties of conducting research. The number of cases (principal applicants) awaiting initial decision or awaiting appeal determinations continues to fall as the level of applications falls, initial decisions continue to outstrip the number of applications, and record numbers of appeals are determined by the IAA. The latest published figures show that as at the end of September 2003 there were: 29,100 cases awaiting an initial decision (of this total, 8,500 cases were work in progress, i.e. the application had been outstanding for six months or less), the lowest level for a decade; an estimated 16,000 appeals lodged with the Home Office which had not been sent to the Immigration Appellate Authority (a proportion of appeals lodged do not result in appeal bundles being sent to the IAA); and 28,800 asylum cases work in progress in the IAA (18,100 at the Adjudicator Tier, 5,600 applications for permission to appeal to the Tribunal, and 5,100 Tribunal Appeals). Information on asylum applications is published quarterly. The next publication will be available at the end of February 2004 on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

417 c700-1W;417 c701W; 150621

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Appeals Asylum Undocumented migrants Iraq

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk