Asylum decision-making must be improved, say MPs
The influential Public Accounts Select Committee has called on the Government to drastically improve the quality of decision-making in asylum applications.
The MPs urge the Government to speed up the time taken to deal with applications, put more on the fast track scheme, and ensure caseloads are not allowed to build up.
MPs also want to see better strategic decision-making, citing the decision in 2001 to turn staff attention to removing failed asylum seekers rather than clearing the backlog of applications, which the committee estimates could have been done in six months.
The committee argues that though removing failed asylum seekers might have saved £50 million in asylum support costs, clearing the backlog of decisions could have saved £200 million.
The report comes only a day after the Government launched its new five-year strategy on immigration and asylum, which promised to speed-up decision-making and removals.
Committee chair Edward Leigh, said: “There is still considerable scope for the Home Office to speed up the decision-making process. I recognise that time is needed for applicants to make their own preparations for the case but the two months that the Home Office generally allows to consider most applications is too long when it only takes nine hours of actual work to make a decision.
“I urge the Home Office to fast track more applications; this is done for 40 per cent of cases in the Netherlands compared with only nine per cent in the UK. Speedier resolution of cases would reduce the costs of supporting asylum seekers and the number of cases that become more complex and difficult to deal with over time.”
But, he accepts that since the peak number of pending application decisions in 1999, the Government has made “significant progress” in reducing the backlog.
The committee also notes that the number of appeals allowed frequently exceeds the Government’s target of 15 per cent and urges the Immigration Directorate to look closely at the quality of decision making.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten said that the PAC report should trigger the establishment of a new independent agency to handle asylum applications.
He said: “This report should lead to a major shake up in the Home Office as it proves it is unfit to administer a fair and effective asylum system.
“The PAC’s report should be the trigger for establishing a new independent agency to process asylum applications. We need a system for fast tracking genuine applications, proper rights of appeal and effective deportation for those that have failed.”
