Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many outstanding asylum claims there are; and what the average time taken is for those claims to reach a final decision.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘asylum detailed datasets’ as part of the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.

Data on the number of claims awaiting an initial decision, broken down by duration, is published in table Asy_D03. The latest data relates to the year ending June 2025. For further information on the data, see the notes pages of the tables.

Data on the average processing times of claims is not currently published.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of unresolved asylum claims on local (a) councils and (b) services in Suffolk; and what additional resources she is providing to Suffolk Council to help mitigate that impact.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office continues to work closely with local authorities to manage all the pressures arising from the provision of asylum accommodation including the impact on wider local authority obligations and plans.

The Home Office has delivered various grants through which we provide funds to support local authorities housing asylum seekers.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the estimated annual cost of providing (a) healthcare, (b) education, and (a) welfare support to illegal migrants in (i) the UK and (b) in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich constituency.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information sought in these questions at the level of granularity requested.

Collating and verifying that information for the purposes of answering these questions could only be done at disproportionate cost and would also require the exclusion of any commercially sensitive material.

However the Home Office publishes all available information on asylum expenditure in the Home Office Annual Report and accounts at Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK(opens in a new tab).

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure the inclusion of people (a) in rural areas and (b) with poor connectivity in the proposed digital ID scheme.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government will launch a public consultation on the new digital ID by the end of the year, setting out the proposed approach in more detail and seeking views on this. This will include the proposed approach to estimating and monitoring the costs involved and savings - while accounting for the outcomes of the consultation.

The Government will work closely with expert stakeholders to make the programme as effective, secure and inclusive as possible, including taking insights from previous IT projects where appropriate. We will also take best practice from other countries.

Inclusivity is central to our thinking as we design this. The Government will deliver a comprehensive inclusion programme to ensure everyone eligible is able to access the new digital ID. This will include targeted support for those who may struggle to access or engage with digital services.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to help ensure the inclusion of people living in (a) rural areas and (b) with poor internet connectivity in the proposed digital ID scheme.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government will launch a public consultation on the new digital ID by the end of the year, setting out the proposed approach in more detail and seeking views on this. This will include the proposed approach to estimating and monitoring the costs involved and savings - while accounting for the outcomes of the consultation.

The Government will work closely with expert stakeholders to make the programme as effective, secure and inclusive as possible, including taking insights from previous IT projects where appropriate. We will also take best practice from other countries.

Inclusivity is central to our thinking as we design this. The Government will deliver a comprehensive inclusion programme to ensure everyone eligible is able to access the new digital ID. This will include targeted support for those who may struggle to access or engage with digital services.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to ensure that lessons learned from previous IT projects will be considered in the development of the proposed digital ID scheme.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government will launch a public consultation on the new digital ID by the end of the year, setting out the proposed approach in more detail and seeking views on this. This will include the proposed approach to estimating and monitoring the costs involved and savings - while accounting for the outcomes of the consultation.

The Government will work closely with expert stakeholders to make the programme as effective, secure and inclusive as possible, including taking insights from previous IT projects where appropriate. We will also take best practice from other countries.

Inclusivity is central to our thinking as we design this. The Government will deliver a comprehensive inclusion programme to ensure everyone eligible is able to access the new digital ID. This will include targeted support for those who may struggle to access or engage with digital services.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed Digital ID scheme on data security.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government will launch a public consultation on the new digital ID by the end of the year, setting out the proposed approach in more detail and seeking views on this. This will include the proposed approach to estimating and monitoring the costs involved and savings - while accounting for the outcomes of the consultation.

The Government will work closely with expert stakeholders to make the programme as effective, secure and inclusive as possible, including taking insights from previous IT projects where appropriate. We will also take best practice from other countries.

Inclusivity is central to our thinking as we design this. The Government will deliver a comprehensive inclusion programme to ensure everyone eligible is able to access the new digital ID. This will include targeted support for those who may struggle to access or engage with digital services.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has made an estimate of the potential cost of the implementation of a digital ID system.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government will launch a public consultation on the new digital ID by the end of the year, setting out the proposed approach in more detail and seeking views on this. This will include the proposed approach to estimating and monitoring the costs involved and savings - while accounting for the outcomes of the consultation.

The Government will work closely with expert stakeholders to make the programme as effective, secure and inclusive as possible, including taking insights from previous IT projects where appropriate. We will also take best practice from other countries.

Inclusivity is central to our thinking as we design this. The Government will deliver a comprehensive inclusion programme to ensure everyone eligible is able to access the new digital ID. This will include targeted support for those who may struggle to access or engage with digital services.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many failed asylum seekers are residing in Suffolk.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of asylum seekers in receipt of support, by support type and by local authority, is published in table Asy_D11 of the ‘Asylum support detailed datasets’.

Individuals receiving Section 4 support have had their asylum claim refused but they are destitute and there are reasons that temporarily prevent them from leaving the UK. Please note that Section 95 support data includes some failed asylum seekers who had children in their household when their appeal rights were exhausted.

The latest data relates to as at 30 June 2025. Data for as at 30 September 2025 will be published on 27 November 2025. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks.