Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many illegal immigrants are currently being housed in Northern Ireland; and what steps are being taken to process their cases.

In accordance with the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, the Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide destitute asylum seekers with accommodation and subsistence support whilst their application for asylum is being considered.

Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, including hotels, and by local authority can be found within the Asy_D11 tab for our most recent statistics release: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK

The Home Office continues to invest in a programme of transformation and business improvement initiatives, including innovative tooling to speed up decision-making, reduce the time people spend in the asylum system, decrease the number of people awaiting an interview or decision, and improve the quality and consistency of our work. Our efforts span the entire asylum journey and will enable us to maximise capacity and progress cases in a more efficient and cost-effective way. We have taken action to speed up asylum processing so that asylum seekers do not wait months or years, at vast expense to the taxpayer, for a decision. The number of outstanding asylum decisions is falling, and we continue to make good progress.