Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many applications for refugee status are outstanding from Syrian and Iraqi nationals; what is their estimate of the number of outstanding applications for persons of working age; and what is the annual cost to the United Kingdom of maintaining those applicants and their dependants.

As at the end of June 2014, the total number of outstanding asylum claims from nationals of Syria is 884 and from nationals of Iraq is 646. The total number of outstanding asylum claims from people over the age of 18 stands at 21,633. These figures include both main claimants and their dependants who are waiting for either a decision on their claim or for a further review.

The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics on the number of asylum claims that are outstanding in the UK within Immigration Statistics Release. The data on nationals of Syria and Iraq that are outstanding are available in the latest release, Immigration Statistics: April – June 2014, table as.01q and table as.02q from GOV.UK on the statistics web pages at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release.

In the financial year of 2013-2014, the Home Office spent £265.2 million on asylum support. This expenditure includes, but is not exclusive to, the provision of accommodation and cash support as well as support provided to unaccompanied asylum seeking children.