Clause 15 - Support for destitute asylum-seeker
Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill
12:45 pm
Mr Humfrey Malins (Woking, Conservative)
Our debate on accommodation centres was useful, but theoretical. I intend to bring some realism to our discussions about asylum along the lines of remarks made by the hon. Member for Walthamstow. Our amendments would oblige the Government to house people in accommodation centres for a maximum of three months, although I do not believe that they want to include that in the Bill. We must ask ourselves whether our legislation makes a difference, and I venture to suggest that our discussions today are unlikely to have an impact on the outside world in the next year or so.
In the last quarter of 2001, there were 18,005 applications for asylum in the United Kingdom and 21,220 initial decisions, which is 7 per cent. fewer than in the previous quarter. Some 14,600 appeals were received and 12,655 determined. In the fourth quarter, 2,450 principal applicants were removed, which is way below the Government's unrealistic target of 30,000 removals a year.
I have quoted those figures to establish the fact, for it cannot be doubted, that the Government face a real difficulty in that the asylum system, with current
methods, cannot be efficient and speedy. However, efficiency and speed are two absolute requirements. The system must be speedy not only for obvious reasons, but for slightly less obvious reasons, including the asylum applicant's welfare.
Members of the Committee will have experience of asylum applicants from their constituency surgeries. How often in the past, and even these days, had a visitor to a Member of Parliament's surgery been waiting for an initial decision on their asylum application for 12 months or more? Will the Minister give the latest figures on the time taken to make an initial decision after an application? What is the average time that such a decision takes? I know that, in practice, it can take up to a year.
What about appeal? I know, as other Members do, that in practice an appeal can quite often last a year or more. As a result, the system becomes as chaotic as it has been in the past year or so—a fact recognised by the Home Secretary. Let us relate to my amendment on accommodation centres the fact that decisions on initial applications and appeals are not taken quickly enough and that removals are way behind target.