Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the target time is for processing an application for asylum.

The Home Office does not currently have a target time for processing application for asylum, but we are committed to ensuring asylum claims are considered without unnecessary delay.

We have already made progress in prioritising claims with acute vulnerability and those in receipt of the greatest level of support, including Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children. Additionally, we are prioritising older claims and those where an individual has already received a decision, but a reconsideration is required.

Asylum Operations are working to reintroduce a service standard and will be looking to potentially align this with changes being introduced through the Nationality and Borders Bill the passage of which is key to fixing our broken asylum system. Our intention to reintroduce a service standard aligns with the recommendation from the recent Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s (ICIBI) published report - An inspection of asylum casework (November 2021).