Appendix 2 Letter from Mr David Lammy
MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional
Affairs to Rt Hon Alan Beith MP, Chairman of the Constitutional
Affairs Committee
Thank you for your letter of 22 July 2004 about the
Committee's recommendation that a universal file number should
be adopted for each applicant in asylum and immigration cases.
I understand the concerns that you have raised about
the different reference numbers that are used in the immigration
and asylum system depending on where an application originated.
We have been working with the Home Office, UKVisas and the Immigration
Appellate Authority (IAA) to look at the potential for introducing
a single file reference number.
Although we agree that there is a case for introducing
such a number—and clearly the customer service perspective
provides the strongest justification—it is apparent that
an integrated approach, relying solely on a single reference number,
could only be a long term solution. IT systems are currently incompatible,
and those systems would ideally need to be linked to generate
the full benefits of a single reference. Furthermore, the disparate
geographical location of individual posts makes it extremely difficult
to develop a global sequential reference number that applies across
a series of unlinked databases located in different departments
and countries. As a result, the cost of introducing a single reference
number would be high—and the risk of duplication significant.
In addition, there is no funding provision to introduce
such a measure under the SR2004 settlement for Single Asylum Fund.
Therefore, such a measure would need to be self funded through
efficiency gains in process. Further work is required to assess
the full cost and resulting cost benefit through introducing a
single file reference.
It is too early to judge categorically how successful
the work-arounds have been and will be in the future. But the
early signs are positive, and I fully expect that we can continue
to make progress. However, the situation will remain under review
to ensure that a clear picture is maintained of where applicants
and appellants experience difficulty, and to what extent we can
realise a more integrated system based upon a single referencing
system.
I hope this helps to clarify what we are doing to
address this issue.
6 September 2004
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