Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people applied for asylum from detention in 2019.

Migrants, including asylum claimants, may be detained for immigration purposes only in accordance with Home Office detention policy, as set out in Detention general guidance and adults at risk in immigration detention. The detention decision must always be made on the basis of the individual’s particular circumstances and eligibility for detention.

If at any time it is concluded that a particular detainee’s ongoing detention would not be appropriate, the individual must be released, with bail conditions appropriate to their particular circumstances.

Most people detained under immigration powers spend only short periods in detention. At any one time, 95% of those liable to be detained, are instead managed in the community.

We do not currently hold the data in the format you have requested, however published data on the number of Asylum claims made can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2019

The great majority of asylum claims are processed in the non-detained system, with claimants living in the community. Only a small minority of claimants are detained whilst their claim is considered.