Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average number of days taken to process claims for unaccompanied children seeking asylum in the UK is; and how many days her Department took to reach a decision on claims by children seeking asylum in (a) 2021, (b) 2020 and (c) 2019; and if she will make a statement.

The Home Office is unable to state what the average number of days taken to process claims unaccompanied children seeking asylum in the UK and how many days it took to reach a decision on claims by children seeking asylum in 2021, 2020 and 2019 as this information is not collected in a format which can published.

The Home Office has established two dedicated case working Hubs for deciding children’s asylum claims which are now fully operational. The hubs have established improved focus on and greater control of children’s cases, to build expertise, identify efficiencies and provide a consistency of decision making (and quicker outcomes) for our customers.

We continue to work collaboratively with Local Authorities nationally on the remote interview process for Accompanied and Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children and young people utilising digital interviewing video capabilities to complement in person interviews.

Since May 2021 we have increased Local Authority opt in for digital interviewing to 108 Local Authorities helping to speed up processes, reduce delays and the numbers of children and young people who have an outstanding claim.

We are continuing to recruit additional decision-makers who will be trained to process children’s asylum claims.