Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the asylum transformation programme includes a commitment to reinstate the 6-month service standard for decisions on all straightforward asylum applications.

A new accelerated service standard is being developed and we are testing the impact of several coordinated initiatives, including enhanced screening, case triage, centralised workflow and streamlined decision templates, in order to improve productivity and increase decision rates.

To accelerate decision making we are simplifying and modernising our system. This includes measures like shortening interviews, removing unnecessary interviews, making guidance simpler and more accessible, dealing with cases more swiftly where they can be certified as manifestly unfounded and extra decision makers.