Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what performance indicators are used for individual officers dealing with asylum seekers.

The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it, in accordance with our obligations under the Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

All asylum claims lodged in the UK are carefully considered on their individual merits against a background of relevant case law and up to date country information. We ensure that claimants are given every opportunity to disclose information relevant to their claim before a decision is taken. Where an asylum claimant establishes a well-founded fear of persecution or serious harm in their country of origin, they are normally granted protection and are not expected to return there.

Asylum decision makers complete a number of variable events or activities which are weighted and used to calculate performance based on their time spent on casework. The cumulative weighting and total available time is used to calculate and report performance daily, weekly, monthly or for any specified period as required. There are no targets in respect of the number of grants or refusals which decision makers are expected to make each week.

Data on performance against the published service standard can be found on tabs Asy 10 and 11 at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-transparency-data-august-2018