Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 10
10
Accepted
Mandate quarterly government reports on asylum backlog progress, including decision rates and recruitment
Recommendation
We recommend that the Government report progress on clearing the asylum backlog to us on a quarterly basis (30 September, 31 December, 30 March and 30 June). The progress reports should include data on: a) the number of pending claims in the backlog (both that to 28 June 2022 and to the nearest available date) including average decision waiting times; b) how recruitment targets for new asylum decision makers are being met, including retention and attrition rates of current staff; and c) what progress is being made against targets to triple the number of weekly asylum decisions, including the number of decisions made each week. (Paragraph 56) 22 Asylum and migration: Albania
Government Response Summary
The government stated it already publishes most of the requested asylum backlog data quarterly through existing official statistics releases, but it does not intend to publish decisions on a weekly basis.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ – available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration- statistics-quarterly-. See Annex A for release Data on the total initial decision backlog, legacy’ initial decision backlog (relating to claims made before 28 June 2022). Data up to the end of June 2023 is scheduled to be published on 24 August 2023, and data up to the end of September 2023 is scheduled to be published on 23 November 2023. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the https://www.gov.uk/search/research-and-statistics?keywords=immigration&cont ent_store_document_type=upcoming_statistics&organisations%5B%5D=home- office&order=relevance’. Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, as well as quality and availability of data. The Home Office publishes data regarding the number of full time equivalent (FTE) asylum caseworkers employed in each month from 01 August 2019–01 July 2023. This provisional data can be found in the IMB_06 tab of the Statistics relating to the Illegal Migration Bill – https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-relating-to-the- illegal-migration-bill. Finalised data for April to June 2023 is due to be published on 24 August 2023 in the Migration Transparency release (Immigration and Protection table, Asy_05(M)). information has been provided to this Committee and the Public Accounts Committee in oral evidence. The Home Office already commits to and routinely publish data on the number of initial decisions on asylum claims, however we do not intend to do this on a weekly basis. See