Asylum

Mr. Spellar
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 28 February 2007, Official Report, column 1351W, on asylum, when he expects to be able to say how many asylum seekers will be dispersed and to which boroughs.

Mr. Byrne
In the reply of 28 February 2007, Official Report, column 1351W, I advised that a review of cases would be undertaken to determine whether there were circumstances which required the continued provision of accommodation in London.

There are approximately 2,0001 cases supported in the London area under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. Reviews are now being undertaken of each of these cases to determine where they had their original support provided and if they have any special reason for remaining in London. Our current intention is to complete the review of each case by the 31 October 2007. It will only be after these reviews have been completed that we will be able to quantify the number of moves and to which local authorities they will be dispersed.

1 This information is based on internal management information, and as such, is not published within the official statistics. Information is provisional and subject to change.