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”, whether they record that information by other means; if so, whether data are available for those that attempted to travel to the UK on small vessels in 2018; and if so, whether they will publish any such data.

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.