To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals claimed asylum at Waterloo Station in (a) 1997, (b) the first two months of 1998 and (c) 1998. [81463]

In 1997, 2,235 applications for asylum were lodged at Waterloo Station. In 1998, 2,820 were made at the same port, of which 210 were made in January 1998 and 205 in February 1998.