Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for asylum from people who applied before July 2022 from (a) Afghanistan, (b) Eritrea, (c) Libya, (d) Syria and (e) Yemen her Department plans to consider without a face-to-face interview.

The Prime Minister pledged to clear the backlog of the 92,601 initial asylum decisions relating to claims made before 28 June 2022 (“legacy claims”) by the end of 2023. From 23 February, legacy claims from nationals of Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen will normally be considered through the Streamlined Asylum Process.

Questionnaires have been issued to claimants in scope who have not yet been substantively interviewed. Where further information is required after the questionnaire is returned we will conduct an additional interview to obtain the necessary information as is current practice.

All claimants have a face-to-face interview when they register their asylum claim. At this stage they also provide their biometric information to enable the Home Office to conduct identity and security checks.