Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in England, what is the average waiting time for an asylum interview.

The Home Office is unable to state what the average waiting time is for an asylum interview, or how many asylum claimants were awaiting their asylum interview because this information is not held in a reportable format, not routinely published and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

However, the Home Office does publish data on the number of asylum claims awaiting an initial decision by duration, for main claimant only. This data can be found at Asy_04 of the published Immigration Statistics:

List of tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it, in accordance with our international obligations. All asylum claims are considered on a case by case basis and in line with published policy, without unnecessary delay so that individuals who need protection and are granted asylum can start to integrate and rebuild their lives.