Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time is between initial screening interviews and substantive interviews in the asylum system.

The information requested is not held in a reportable format and could only be obtained through examination of individual case records at disproportionate cost.

However, the Home Office does publish data on the number of asylum claims awaiting an initial decision by duration. This data can be found at table Asy_D03 of the Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.

Additionally, data on the percentage of applications processed within six months is published in table ASY_01 of the 'Immigration and Protection' data of the Migration transparency data - GOV.UK.

We are committed to progressing asylum cases in an efficient and cost-effective way. Over 70% of asylum claims received during Q4 2025 were decided within 6 months, the highest percentage in 11 years.