Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that adequate due diligence is taking place to ascertain the difference between economic migrants who have been working in the grey economy and those migrants with genuine claims of asylum.

All asylum decision-makers receive a five-week intensive training programme on considering asylum claims and must follow published Home Office policy guidance on assessing an individual’s credibility. Asylum Operations has an assurance process, which assesses the quality of decisions, interviews and the application of Home Office policy.

We ensure claimants are given every opportunity to disclose information relevant to their claim before a decision is taken, even where that information may be sensitive or difficult to disclose.

Protection is normally granted when a claimant establishes a well-founded fear of persecution under the 1951 Refugee Convention, for race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group or their particular circumstances engage our obligations under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which may result in an individual being granted Humanitarian Protection or Discretionary Leave.