Andrew Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department’s current service standard is for the time taken to process further submissions related to an asylum claim.

James Brokenshire

There is not a formal service standard for deciding further submissions from failed asylum seekers. The Home Office is balancing resource between those failed asylum seekers with no leave to remain who have made further submissions on the one hand and, on the other, those who were granted a limited period of leave following the refusal of their application who have outstanding applications for Further Leave.

With regard to further submissions lodged by failed asylum seekers, there is dedicated resource in place to decide cases in the existing stock of further submissions and to also decide new submissions quickly, wherever possible within 5 days of their being lodged. With regard to cases in the stock of further submissions, the Home Office is prioritising cases where applicants are in receipt of asylum support and cases where the applicant may be removed from the United Kingdom in the eventuality their submission is refused. The Home Office will also give priority to further submissions case that have been outstanding for the longest period of time.

The figures in the below table relate to failed asylum seekers who had outstanding further submissions as of 30 June 2015:

Timescale (Years) Total

1 – 2 2383

2 – 3 1426

3 or more 1267

Total 5076