Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff are employed in the processing asylum applications in the UK Visa and Immigration team.

The number of staff who are employed by UK Visas and Immigration in the processing of asylum applications, is not held in a way that can be easily aggregated. To obtain this information would require detailed reporting against multiple cost centres and could only be obtained at disproportionate costs.

Decisions on asylum claims are made by decision makers in Asylum Operations. There are recruitment strategies in place to maintain staffing at the required levels to allow us to manage asylum intake and reduce the overall time to make initial asylum decisions.

All asylum claim lodged in the UK are carefully considered on their individual merits against a background of relevant case law and up to date country information.