To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applicants for leave to remain have been awaiting a decision for (a) up to six months, (b) up to one year, (c) up to two years, (d) up to three years and (e) more than three years. (309963)

The UK Border Agency works to agreed service standards. The information requested, expressed as a percentage of cases which met the service standard, is as follows:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what avenues and procedures are available to hon. Members wishing to make representations to decision-makers in the UK Border Agency on longstanding asylum cases. (313630)

Members of Parliament may make representations to the UK Border Agency on the handling of cases in the following ways: they may write in to the Agency or contact the MP’s Enquiry Line or their MP Account Manager and can track the progress of their letters online.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent steps he has taken to reduce the number of outstanding asylum applications; how many staff have been assigned to this task in the last three months; and if he will make a statement. (314335)

In the last three months there have been around 1,000 members of staff working within the Case Resolution Directorate. I refer to paragraph 15 of Lin Homer's letter to the Home Affairs Select Committee dated 19 October 2009 for our most recent update on progress. Lin Homer will provide a further update to the Committee in February 2010.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what mechanisms are in place to enable hon. Members to present information to the UK Border Agency on behalf of an asylum applicant in circumstances in which the applicant is unable to provide such information in person. (314407)

Members of Parliament may make representations to the UK Border Agency about the handling of asylum applications on behalf of the applicant by writing to the UK Border Agency or by contacting the UK Border Agency MPs’ Enquiry Line or their MP Account Manager.

However, MPs are not able to make initial asylum applications on behalf of their constituents and, since the introduction of the requirement to make further representations on asylum claims in person in October 2009, neither are MPs able to submit further submissions on behalf of their constituents, although they can, of course, make representations.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of interviews held with asylum seekers by UK Border Agency staff were (a) video and (b) audio recorded in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. (316215)

Asylum interviews are not routinely recorded. In normal circumstances caseowners conducting asylum interviews take a verbatim handwritten record of the interview which is made available to the applicant and their representative. However, where an applicant or their representative asks for their interview to be audio recorded, it is UKBA policy to comply with that request in addition to the provision of a hand written verbatim record.

There is no central record of the number of cases that are recorded.

No asylum interviews are video recorded.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of interviews held with asylum seekers by UK Border Agency staff in Cardiff were (a) video and (b) audio recorded in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. (316334)

There is no facility within the UK Border Agency’s office in Cardiff for the video recording of interviews with asylum seekers. While there is no legal requirement for such interviews to be recorded by means of audio, where a request to do so is made either by the applicant or their legal representative it is the practice of the UK Border Agency to comply with the request. This is in addition to the provision of a handwritten verbatim record.