Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 21 January (HL12624) that “the Home Office does not electronically record the grounds on which an individual claims asylum” and that they cannot identify the origins of persecuted minorities, whether they intend to (1) review that policy, and (2) collect such data in the future.

The basis of a person’s asylum claim is recorded on their individual Home Office file, but not in a way that can be easily aggregated, so we cannot provide figures on how many claims are brought by particular persecuted minorities, or the nature of claims brought by those attempting to travel to the UK in small vessels.

As such, this information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost because it would require a manual search through individual records.

We keep all policy under regular review.