Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will introduce a transparent system for monitoring her Department's performance on decision-making on applications for asylum support and publish the results, broken down by decision on section 95 (long-term cash or cash and accommodation support) and section 98 (emergency support) applications.

Asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute can apply for free accommodation and cash support to cover their essential living needs whilst their cases are considered. If they have an emergency need for accommodation they can ask to be put in initial accommodation whilst their support applications are being processed and the vast majority of such requests are processed on the same day. We aim to resolve Section 95 applications received from people in Initial Accommodation within 3 days and other applications from people staying in private accommodation within 10 days.

All cases are considered on their own merits, in some cases applicants are asked to provide further information before a decision on eligibility can reached. The Home Office monitors closely the performance of asylum support application decision making and we take seriously all complaints about performance failure. The department has robust procedures in place to inspect, investigate and resolve issues when specific information is received, however there are no plans to publish this performance or complaints data.