Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government in what circumstances individual applications for asylum are referred to ministers; what proportion of Home Office decisions on asylum applications are notified to ministers’ private offices (1) before, and (2) after, those decisions are communicated to the applicant for asylum; and how many such decisions have been so notified during the first five months of 2020.

Individual applications for asylum are referred to ministers when they are identified as potentially sensitive or high-profile. Such cases may be referred to Ministers by the relevant case working team if they feel it appropriate or, dependant on the circumstances of the case, when they are raised through MPs representation, or in Parliament; or when specific Ministerial authorisation is required.

The Home Office is unable to state what proportion of decisions on asylum applications are referred to Minister’s private offices, before and/or after those decisions are communicated to the applicant for asylum or how many such decisions have been notified during the first five months of 2020, as this does not form part of any routinely published data and is not held in a reportable format.