Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether non-Syrian nationals displaced by the Syrian civil war seeking asylum have had their claims paused following the general pause of Syrian asylum claims from December 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Following the fall of the Assad regime, the Home Office withdrew the Country Policy Information Notes and guidance relating to Syria and has temporarily paused all asylum interviews and decisions. The pause also applies those who have previously been habitually resident in Syria. The pause is being kept under constant review and when there is a clear basis upon which to make decisions, we will resume the processing of them.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the average time taken to process an asylum claim after July 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The specific data requested is not currently available from published statistics and could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
However, the Home Office does publish data on the number of asylum claims awaiting an initial decision by duration. This data can be found at table Asy_D02 of the ‘Asylum and resettlement summary tables’.
Additionally, data on the percentage of applications processed within six months is published in table ASY_D03 of the ‘Immigration and Protection’ data of the Migration Transparency Data collection.
We are restoring order to the asylum system so that every part – border security, case processing, appeals and returns – operates swiftly.
As a result, asylum decision making increased by 52% in the last three months of 2024.
The Home Office continues to take action to speed up asylum processing whilst maintaining the integrity of the system.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps is she taking to tackle fraudulent Certificates of Sponsorship as a route for illegal immigration.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Certificates of sponsorship (CoS) are electronic documents created by sponsors licensed by the Home Office. If we identify that a fraudulent, non-genuine CoS has been submitted, that does not match our records, we shall refuse the application.
Apr. 03 2025
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Committee: Home Affairs Committee (Department: Home Office)