Question to the Home Secretary

At Home Office Questions on Monday 27 November 2023 I asked the Home Secretary Rt Hon James Cleverly MP a question. I asked: “One of the ways of dealing with illegal migration is to look at the number of cases. Can the Home Secretary say how many legacy backlog cases there are—if they have yet been triaged—and how many of those result from illegal migration?”

The Home Secretary answered by saying: “The historic backlog has been reduced by 65%. It has fallen by more than 59,000 cases since the end of November 2022. We have recruited 2,500 asylum decision makers, and we have increased tenfold the pace at which these decisions are made.”

The Home Secretary did not answer the question. It is vital to know the total number of backlog cases and how many of those result from illegal migration as the Prime Minister has said he will deal with this before the end of 2023.