Edward Leigh

The Home Office should fast track more asylum applications, a committee of MPs has concluded.

A report from the Commons public accounts committee highlighted inefficiencies in the way that the asylum system operates.

It said that the backlog of cases peaked at 129,000 in 1999 before falling to 63,700 at the end of 2003.

To tackle the backlog, the department built up the number of caseworkers involved, but then decided in 2001 to shift them to work on removing failed asylum seekers.

Committee chairman Edward Leigh said that "this may have saved an estimated £50 million in asylum support costs but that saving hardly compares favourably with the £200 million that could have been saved by leaving staff in place to completely clear the backlog of applications within six months".

"In deciding how many staff to deploy, and where, departments must consider the costs and savings available across the whole programme," he added.

The report also found that there is still "considerable scope" for the Home Office to speed up the decision-making process.

"I urge the Home Office to fast track more applications; this is done for 40 per cent of cases in the Netherlands compared with only nine per cent in the UK," added Leigh.

"Speedier resolution of cases would reduce the costs of supporting asylum seekers and the number of cases that become more complex and difficult to deal with over time."

The committee found that Whitehall departments should compare the additional administrative costs of meeting surges in demand with the additional costs which will arise if backlogs are allowed to accumulate.

The Home Office's Immigration and Nationality Directorate spent £1.86 billion in 2002/03, while the Immigration Appellate Authority spent £101 million on dealing with appeals from immigration and asylum cases.