PAC slams backlog in asylum applications

10 Feb 05
The Public Accounts Committee criticised the Home Office this week for allowing an 'unhealthy' backlog of asylum applications to build up, as Labour and Conservatives launched a pre-election war of words on the immigration issue.

11 February 2005

The Public Accounts Committee criticised the Home Office this week for allowing an 'unhealthy' backlog of asylum applications to build up, as Labour and Conservatives launched a pre-election war of words on the immigration issue.

Applications peaked at 129,000 in 1999 and were then managed down to 63,700 by the end of 2003. However, MPs said more could be done to speed up the decision-making process.

PAC chair Edward Leigh recommended the example of the Netherlands, where 40% of asylum applications are fast-tracked, compared with only 9% in the UK.

'Speedier resolution of cases would reduce the costs of supporting asylum seekers and the number of cases that become more complex and difficult over time,' he said.

Leigh was also critical of the decision to divert caseworkers away from processing applications to the task of removing failed asylum seekers.

'This may have saved an estimated £50m in asylum support costs but that saving hardly compares favourably with the £200m that could have been saved by leaving staff in place to completely clear the backlog of applications within six months,' he said.

The Home Office's five-year plan for immigration and asylum, launched by Home Secretary Charles Clarke on February 7, will deliver fast-track processing of all applicants without a legitimate claim to asylum and step up the removals process. Successful applicants will only be granted temporary leave to remain, rather than permanent status.

Clarke said: 'The public need to have confidence that our immigration system is properly run and enforced, with strict controls that work…People who are genuinely fleeing persecution will be able to find a safe haven in this country but we will be tough on those trying to exploit the system.'

New constraints on migration were also revealed. In an echo of the Australian system, potential workers or students will be required to comply with a points system, and only skilled workers will be allowed to settle long term in the UK.

But shadow home secretary David Davis said the government had left it too late to sort out the immigration and asylum 'mess'. He accused ministers of being panicked into action by the apparent popularity of the Tories' own proposals on annual quotas.

PFfeb2005

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