To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Iraqi asylum seekers, who have been unsuccessful in their appeal to remain, remain in this country. (142466)

[holding answer 15 June 2007]: As the Home Secretary set out in his evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 23 May 2006, following the dismantling of embarkation controls beginning in 1994, no Government have been able to produce an accurate figure for the number of people who are in the country illegally, and that remains the case. The Home Secretary has set a clear goal of reintroducing systems to count everyone in and out of Britain.

Furthermore, those making an asylum claim can leave the country voluntarily at any stage of their claim without informing the authorities.

It follows that we cannot know the number of Iraqi asylum seekers who have been unsuccessful in their appeal who remain in the UK.

Published statistics on immigration and asylum are available on the Home Office’s Research, Development and Statistics website:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for asylum were received from nationals of Iraq in each year since 1997; how many of these applications were (a) approved and (b) refused and resulted in deportations; and if he will make a statement. (142788)

Information on how many Iraqi asylum applications received in each year since 1997 that have been subsequently approved, rejected or deported is not available.

Information on asylum applications, initial decisions, appeals and removals for nationals of Iraq are published quarterly and annually. Copies of these publications are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics website at

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many decisions were taken by the Government on asylum applications by Iraqi nationals in 2006, broken down by (i) Geneva convention status, (ii) humanitarian status and other authorisations to remain and (iii) rejections. (143971)

Information on asylum applications, initial decisions and appeals for nationals of Iraq is shown in the following table. Initial decisions do not necessarily relate to applications made in the same period. Appeal determinations do not necessarily relate to initial decisions made in the same period.

Information on asylum applications, initial decisions and appeals for nationals of Iraq is, however, published quarterly and annually. Copies of these publications are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics website at:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.