To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effects of his Department’s introduction of gender guidelines on the asylum procedure. (291553)

The Asylum Instruction entitled “Gender Issues in the Asylum Claim” was introduced in early 2004. The instruction provides guidance to caseworkers considering claims for asylum where sexual or gender identity-related issues have been raised. The UKBA quality audit team checks compliance with all UKBA instructions in a proportion of decisions. This includes where relevant, whether the decision maker has followed the instruction on gender. The result of each audit is fed back to decision makers and managers to ensure quality of decisions improves and the quality team make additional recommendations on any issues which they feel impact on quality at national level to ensure these can be addressed.