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Written Answers to Questions

Tuesday 8 July 2008

Home Department

Asylum

Mr. Mudie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what targets have been set within her Department for the time for processing applications for leave to remain at each stage; and what the anticipated month and year is in which the application made by Mr Last Manzini (M1175940) in February 2005 will be decided. [217248]

Mr. Byrne: I wrote to my hon. Friend on 7 July 2008.

Asylum: Children

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions she has had with the Scottish Executive on procedures in place for dealing with unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in the UK who are resident in Scotland. [215674]

Mr. Byrne: A number of discussions between the UK Border Agency and the Scottish Executive at official level have taken place over the past 12 months about
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reforms of the support and management of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. These will continue as the reform progresses.

Asylum: Zimbabwe

James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals from Zimbabwe have claimed asylum in the UK in each of the last 24 months; how many of these claims have been rejected; and how many rejections were made in whole or in part on the basis of a connection with Zanu-PF. [216970]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 7 July 2008]: The table gives the most recently published figures available and shows the total number of Zimbabwean principal asylum applications made between April 2006 and March 2008; and the total number of refusals, following initial decisions. The table includes people who have been refused asylum but have been granted humanitarian protection or discretionary leave. Initial decisions do not necessarily relate to applications made in the same period. The requested information on those refused asylum on the basis of connection with Zanu-PF is unavailable as it is not collated centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by examination of individual case records.

Information on asylum is published annually and quarterly. Asylum Statistics United Kingdom 2007 and the Q2 2008 Asylum Bulletin will be available on 21 August 2008 from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate website at:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration-asylum-stats.html

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Asylum applications( 1) received in the United Kingdom, excluding dependants, land initial decisions( 2) on applications, April 2006 to March 2008 by month, nationals of Zimbabwe
Principal applicants
		Decisions
	Applications	O f which:		Grants of :
	Total	Total decisions	Grants of asylum	H umanitarian protection	D iscretionary leave	Refusals
2006
April	140	210	10	0	5	190
May	110	215	20	0	0	190
June	115	120	10	0	0	110
July	140	100	10	0	*	85
August	70	80	10	*		70
September	75	125	5	0	5	120
October	75	80	5	0	0	75
November	85	80	10	0	*	75
December	75	75	5	0	*	70
2006 Q2 to Q4 total	885	1,085	85	*	20	980
2007
January	105	85	15	0	*	65
February	100	110	15	0	5	95
March	120	115	10	0	0	105
April	130	120	25	*	*	95
May	105	155	15	0	*	140
June	140	135	20	0	0	115
July	150	160	25	0	0	135
August	130	105	20	0	0	85
September	165	100	25	0	5	70
October	255	125	45	0	*	80
November	210	135	30	0	5	105
December	145	80	10	0	*	70
2007 total	1,755	1,425	250	*	20	1,155
2008
January	180	110	25	*	*	80
February	185	145	30	0	15	100
March	280	120	30	0	*	90
2008 Q1 total	640	375	90	*	15	270
* = One or two. (1) Provisional figures rounded to nearest five. (2) Information is of initial decisions, excluding the outcome of appeals or other subsequent decisions. Source: Immigration Research and Statistics

Borders: Personal Records

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she will next meet her EU counterparts to discuss the use of passenger name record data held by airlines. [216860]

Mr. Byrne: The use of passenger name record data is expected to be discussed at the next Justice and Home Affairs Formal Council meeting on 24 and 25 July.

Ministers have already met their European Union counterparts on this issue several times in the past few months, including at the EU Justice and Home Affairs Formal Council in June. They have also discussed this topic with Members of the European Parliament, several of whom have visited the UK’s central unit for the processing of passenger name record data.

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