Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time taken is for her Department to respond following the submission by an asylum seeker of a request for permission to work.

Casework systems do not allow us to report on the number of permission to work requests received or the number subsequently granted permission. Obtaining these figures would require manually searching through cases amounting to disproportionate time and cost.

Asylum seekers are allowed to work in the UK if their claim has been outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own. Those permitted to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List (SOL).