[holding answer 1 March 2010]: Between 1 April 2009 and 31 December 2009, 132 decisions have been made at the conclusive grounds stage. From the date of referral (a) no conclusive grounds decision were released in the first seven days, (b) 24 were released in eight to 45 days, (c) 65 in 46 days to three months, (d) 39 in three to six months and (e) four took over six months.
[holding answer 1 March 2010]: The majority of National Referral Mechanism cases are assessed by two officers. Upon referral, a case will be allocated to a competent authority case owner who will decide if someone is a victim of trafficking. Before the decision is released it will then be considered by a second person, normally a senior competent authority, to quality assure the decision.
In cases where a referral has been made by an external agency such as the police or local authority, and where there is an immigration issue but the person is not yet known to UKBA, the UK Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC) will make the reasonable grounds decision and then pass the case to the UKBA Competent Authority for the conclusive grounds decision. In these circumstances cases will be considered by four officers at various stages of the NRM process.
There will be instances where a case is assigned to a competent authority who becomes unavailable part way through consideration due to illness or a change in role. These circumstances are rare but where they occur they will result in the case being reallocated to another case owner.
[holding answer 1 March 2010]: The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) for identifying victims of human trafficking includes a decision on whether a person is conclusively found to be a victim of trafficking. This is separate from the asylum system, which involves an assessment of whether someone has a well founded fear of persecution under the 1951 Geneva Convention.
It will be under a particular set of circumstances where there has been an asylum application leading to an asylum interview as well as a conclusive grounds trafficking decision for the same individual. Moreover the timing of the separate processes is not directly linked. Where an asylum application is made, it can be before, during or after a referral and conclusive grounds decision under the NRM.
The following is a table of cases where there has been an asylum interview and a conclusive grounds decision under the NRM with their respective dates:
Case number Date of asylum interview Date of conclusive grounds decision 1 6 April 2009 19 April 2009 2 6 April 2009 30 June 2009 3 15 April 2009 17 March 2009 4 5 May 2009 17 September 2009 5 1 May 2009 24 August 2009 6 30 April 2009 8 July 2009 7 6 May 2009 11 June 2009 8 18 May 2009 16 July 2009 9 8 October 2009 13 November 2009 10 5 August 2009 23 October 2009 11 12 March 2009 15 October 2009 12 2 March 2009 17 September 2009 13 8 April 2009 17 June 2009 14 27 March 2009 24 August 2009 15 9 June 2009 29 September 2009 16 24 August 2009 27 October 2009 17 22 September 2009 2 October 2009 18 22 August 2009 16 September 2009 19 25 June 2009 9 September 2009 20 3 February2009 29 October 2009 21 2 March 2009 29 September 2009 22 24 August 2009 11 November 2009 23 26 August 2009 3 September 2009 24 9 August 2007 14 December 2009 25 3 November 2009 20 November 2009 26 7 September 2009 30 October 2009 27 14 September 2009 27 November 2009 28 7 August 2009 7 April 2009 29 22 July 2009 15 July 2009 30 4 August 2009 10 November 2009 31 24 July 2009 19 August 2009 32 28 April 2009 3 July 2009 33 10 September 2009 5 August 2009 34 5 August 2009 2 December 2009 35 3 September 2009 28 September 2009 37 16 September 2009 23 November 2009 38 7 April 2009 3 December 2009 39 10 February2009 1 December 2009 40 29 October 2009 4 December 2009 41 14 July 2009 1 October 2009 42 22 February 2006 14 December 2009 43 11 February 2009 14 August 2009 44 17 July 2009 3 November 2009 45 14 August 2009 20 November 2009 46 27 August 2009 23 October 2009 47 14 July 2009 4 November 2009 48 17 September 2008 24 July2009 49 19 November 2009 1 December 2009 50 17 November 2009 30 October 2009 51 9 February 2009 22 June 2009 52 17 July 2009 30 October 2009 53 30 July 2009 14 August 2009 54 3 November 2009 26 November 2009 55 20 January 2010 16 December 2009