Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum cases have remained outstanding for over five years in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017; and what steps her Department are taking to reduce those numbers.

We are aware of the number of older cases in the system. These are more complex cases which generally have barriers preventing an initial asylum decision being made. Barriers are often varied and require time to clear.

The Home Office has plans to reduce the number of outstanding undecided asylum claims and the speed at which they are processed. Plans include a staff retention strategy to ensure it retains its highly skilled asylum decision makers, further expansion of digital processes to increase caseworking flexibility and the creation of a new team in Bootle; specifically established to tackle older asylum cases. The new team has been designed to establish new ways of working and roll out best practise in the management of older cases.