To ask the Attorney-General what is the average time between (a) a request for a hearing date and (b) a hearing date being set for immigration appeals in (i) Leeds and (ii) other immigration appeals centres in the United Kingdom.
The average time between a request for a hearing date and a hearing date being set at the individual centres of the immigration appellate authorities (IAA) is currently as follows:
| Place | Time |
| Leeds | 7 months |
| Thanet House, London | 3–4 weeks |
| Harmondsworth | 1–2 weeks |
| Manchester | 1–2 weeks |
| Birmingham | 3 months |
| Glasgow | 3 months |
To ask the Attorney-General what action is being taken to reduce delays in hearing immigration appeals in (a) Leeds and (b) other immigration centres in the United Kingdom.
The Lord Chancellor's Department plans to make an additional hearing room available early in 1992 at the Leeds centre of the immigration appellate authorities (IAA) for the hearing of immigration appeals. This will enable the adjudicators at Leeds to sit more frequently and so reduce the current waiting times for cases to come before them. The Lord Chancellor's Department will also be exploring the feasibility of immigration appeals being heard at other locations in Leeds to help reduce the current backlog of cases.The Lord Chancellor's Department has plans to increase the number of sittings by adjudicators in 1992 at all of the hearing centres of the IAA and the number of staff will be increased. These measures will help the IAA to tackle more effectively their rising workload. Furthermore, a multi-terminal case-tracking computer system will be operational by January 1992. This will enable the IAA to monitor more accurately and frequently the progress of appeals.
To ask the Attorney-General what is the average delay between the receipt of immigration appeal papers, received in London from British overseas posts, being forwarded to the representatives of the parties.
Upon receipt of immigration appeal papers from a British overseas post, the IAA is usually able to dispatch copies of the case papers to the parties' representatives in this country within two weeks.
To ask the Attorney-General how many (a) staff and (b) adjudicators are retained in Leeds and other immigration appeal centres in the United Kingdom; and what proposals there are to increase staff and adjudicators, both part time and full time.
The staff and adjudicators currently in post at the individual hearing centres of the immigration appellate authorities are as follows:
| Adjudicators | |||
| Hearing centres | Staff | Full-time | Part-time |
| Leeds | 8 | 1 | 13 |
| Thanet House | 64 | 7 | 19 |
| Harmondsworth1 | 10 | 3 | 10 |
| Manchester | 5 | 1 | 11 |
| Birmingham | 8½ | 2 | 10 |
| Glasgow | 1½ | — | 5 |
| 1 Includes Belfast and Cardiff. | |||