Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many substantive interviews for asylum applications her Department has carried out in the last 12 months.

The Home Office is unable to state how many substantive interviews for asylum applications have been carried out in the last 12 months, because this data 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 Home Office is committed to ensuring asylum claims are considered without unnecessary delay; that individuals who need protection are granted asylum as soon as possible, so that they can start to integrate and rebuild their lives.