Big rise in numbers of asylum seekers

Home Secretary David Blunkett's asylum policy suffered a blow today as figures showed the number of applicants arriving in Britain has risen significantly for the first time in more than a year.

The number of applications topped 19,500 in the first three months of this year, up 8 per cent on the previous quarter, and the highest since the end of 2000, provisional figures showed today.

The total – which rises to an estimated 24,000 when dependents such as spouses and children are included – was announced as Mr Blunkett promised tougher measures, including plans to deport failed applicants within days.

The number of would–be refugees removed from Britain after failing to win asylum was 2,445 – just a third of the Government's target of 7,500 each quarter.

Today's Home Office figures show there were 72,430 applications for asylum in the 2001/02 financial year, 10 per cent lower than the previous financial year.

However, applications from January to March rose 4 per compared with the same period last year, with the largest number of applications coming from Iraq (2,840), overtaking Afghanistan (2,350), which has been the largest group since the middle of last year.

Applications from Zimbabwe rose a massive 92 per cent to the record level of 1,495, reflecting its political turmoil and Mr Blunkett's roundly–applauded announcement on January 15 that removals to the central African country were being suspended.

The number of applicants removed from the UK during the first three months of this year was roughly the same as the previous three months.

Mr Blunkett is lagging far behind the Home Office target of removing 2,500 failed asylum seekers a month – expelling fewer than that in the whole of January, February and March.

When dependants are included, the number removed from Britain actually fell 1per cent to 2,920 in the first quarter compared with the previous three months (2,935).

Figures also show more people than ever applied for help with accommodation and financial help.

The number in January to March was 17,540 – 15% up on the same quarter last year.

At the end of March the number of would–be refugees receiving housing and money from the National Asylum Support Service was more than twice as high as it was a year earlier.

More than 45,600 were receiving housing plus "subsistence support" while 30,700 were receiving subsistence support only, compared with 19,500 and 13,500 respectively 12 months earlier.

Today's report showed 1,370 people who had claimed asylum at some stage were being detained at the Home Office's Oakington fast–track centre, removal centres and prisons.

A Home Office spokesman said today's figures were "testimony to the improvements already being made in the asylum system".

They pointed out that initial decisions were being made more speedily, outstripping the number of new applications coming in, and the backlog of cases had fallen to its lowest level in more than a decade (35,500).

Fewer people were launching appeals over the decision to reject their application – down to 13,300 during January to February, compared with 14,600 in the previous three months.