Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the costs of implementing the recommendations made in the report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration 2021, An inspection of asylum casework (August 2020–May 2021), published on 18 November 2021.

The Home office welcomes the recommendations made in the report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration 2021 “An inspection of asylum casework”; and we are taking immediate action to accelerate decision-making and rapidly speed up processing times to eliminate the backlog of people waiting for initial asylum decisions by the end of 2023.

Costs related to implementing the recommendations made in the report have not been assessed independently from the wider costs of the asylum system.

Asylum costs are detailed in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, with the most recent Annual Report and Accounts for 2021 to 2022 published on 14 July 2022 and available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2021-to-2022