Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2014 to Question 215259, for what reason that Answer did not refer to the actual average waiting time for asylum seekers to receive an appointment for an initial screening interview; and if she will provide that information.

The Home Office has an internal target of 10 days from the initial point of contact to the point the customer attends the unit. This was introduced at the start of the current financial year and we have remained within that target for
the year to date.

The current average time an asylum seeker waits before attending an appointment is 10 days. This data has been derived from internal management information and should therefore be treated as provisional and subject to change. This
information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols. This figure relates to appointments made between 1st June 2013 and 31st May 2014.