Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-04-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many new cases have opened after the establishment of the Complex Casework Directorate; and how many such cases were resolved by way of granting a leave.

James Brokenshire

Complex Casework Directorate was set up to be responsible for the remaining un-concluded asylum cases where the initial asylum application was lodged before March 2007. The work to review and communicate decisions to the cohort of older asylum cases was completed by the end of December 2014, other than for a small number of cases that were on hold, although work continues to progress the removal of applicants who received a negative decision from the Home Office and who otherwise have no lawful basis to remain in the United Kingdom.

As of 31 December 2015 there were 524 older asylum records requiring review, and a further 742 were on hold. These cases were on hold for legitimate process reasons. There are no dormant records.

The older asylum records relate to asylum applications made prior to 5 March 2007, and there are therefore no new cases, although cases that are reopened following contact with an individual whose record was previously closed are added to the cohort of older live asylum records. It is not possible to say how many reopened cases were subsequently granted leave without incurring disproportionate cost.

Information relating to older asylum records is published as part of the Asylum Transparency Data. This data includes the work in progress, on take of people who enter the cohort and the number of individuals granted leave.