Asylum decisions at record rate

A record 11,340 asylum claims were processed last month after hundreds of extra caseworkers were taken on to clear the huge backlog of cases, according to Home Office figures released yesterday.

The queue of asylum seekers waiting for a decision has fallen below 100,000 for the first time in four months and stands at 98,365 cases.

The official "recognition rate" of 19% of cases in March given full refugee status or exceptional leave to remain understates the real level of "genuine" asylum seekers, as it excludes the 1,955 given permission to stay last month in the special backlog clearance exercise. If they are included, the "recognition rate" shoots up to 36% of the cases on which a decision was made last month.

The 11,340 cases decided in March compares with 4,040 decisions in January and 7,865 in February. It was the highest monthly total ever recorded, said a Home Office spokesman.

The number of people seeking asylum in March was 6,680, up from 6,110 in February, suggesting that publicity about implementation on April 3 of the system of vouchers and dispersal did not have a deterrent effect.

Once again Yugoslavia - including Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia - produced the most applicants, followed by Sri Lanka, China, Afghanistan and Somalia.

Ann Widdecombe, shadow home secretary, said she did not see the situation as improving. "It is still going to take years to clear the backlog of asylum applications, and in the meantime more and more applications come in."

Jack Straw, the home secretary, is expected today to highlight the effectiveness of his new £2,000 fines on lorry drivers who bring clandestine entrants into Britain.