Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the most common reason for rejecting an application for asylum was in each year since 2016.

The Home Office publishes data on asylum applications in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release[ND1] ’. Data on outcomes of [ND2] asylum applications at initial decision, including refusals, is published in table Asy_D02 of the Asylum applications, initial decisions and resettlement detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the year ending September 2023. Please note that reason for refusal is not published but the data is broken down by type of refusal (e.g. third country refusal, certified refusal). Definitions of the types of refusals can be found in the ‘Definitions’ page of the workbook.

Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar[ND3] ’.

Please link to Immigration system statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) [ND1]

I believe this PQ relates to 'refusals' rather than 'withdrawals' of asylum applications. [ND2]

Please link to immigration - Research and statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) [ND3]