Supplementary memorandum by the Office
of the President, Asylum and Immigration Tribunal
Sir Henry has asked me to respond to you on
his behalf.
The following clarifies the apparent discrepancy
between the two sets of figures relating to cases awaiting hearing
within the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT), given during
his evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) and then
subsequently to the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee (CASC).
The AIT has no cupboards full of appeals, metaphoric
or otherwise.
The figure of 47,000 appeals awaiting hearing
given by Sir Henry to the HASC, whilst technically correct, did
not account for those appeals moving through the system to be
listed for a hearing.
It is this work in progress when combined with
the awaiting hearing figure that provides the approximate 80,000
appeals referred to during his evidence to the CASC.
In fact the exact figure is I understand a total
of around 87,000 outstanding appeals and applications. That formed
the Tribunal's work in progress at the end of 2005. All these
cases are now logged on our computer database and are working
through the Tribunal system.
However, and as Sir Henry made clear during
his evidence to the CASC, we remain confident that the bulk of
this work will be heard throughout the course of this year.
Philip Lawley
Head of Presidents Office
April 2006
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