Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what consideration has been given to decreasing delays in processing asylum support applications; and whether the Government has considered allowing people seeking sanctuary in the UK the right to work.

We monitor the time it takes to decide applications for asylum support closely and have brought down the processing times over the last year. If a destitute asylum seeker has an immediate need for support, for example because they are homeless, they can apply to be admitted to emergency accommodation. We aim to make decisions on these cases on the same day.

The Government has a longstanding policy of only granting asylum seekers permission to work in the UK if their asylum claim has been outstanding for at least 12 months through no fault of their own and only in jobs on the shortage occupation list. There are no plans to change this policy.