To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what resources have been allocated to processing asylum claims in each year from 2018 to 2021.
Answered on
14 January 2022
The Home Office are pursuing a programme of transformation and business improvement initiatives which will speed up decision making, reduce the time people spend in the system and reduce the numbers who are awaiting an interview or decision. This includes almost doubling the number of decision makers and providing improved training and career progression opportunities to aid retention of staff. This investment in our people will speed up processing times and increase the throughput of asylum decisions.
There are many factors that can delay and contribute to the length of time to process asylum claims. Some applications have complex needs, safeguarding issues, are extremely vulnerable or have a modern slavery claim attached to their claim. We therefore take full consideration of these facts when prioritising and progressing outstanding asylum claims and this can lead to longer waiting times for some. We are prioritising cases with high harm, acute vulnerability, and those in receipt of the greatest level of support, including Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children. Additionally, we are prioritising older cases and cases where an individual has already received a decision, but a reconsideration is required.
The number of resources allocated to processing asylum claims in each year from 2018 to 2021 is not in a reportable format as resources cross several different departments. Therefore, to obtain this information could only be obtained at disproportionate costs.
However, the Home Office can provide the number of asylum decision makers from 2018 to 2021. This data can be found in ASY_04 of the published Transparency data:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-and-protection-data-q2-2021