With immigration and asylum likely to be a hot topic this year, we’ve put together some useful statistics and 6 key facts on refugee issues to make sure you can tell the truth about asylum in the upcoming debate! On our website you’ll also find updated briefings on key advocacy goals like ending asylum destitution,defending access to healthcare and raising asylum support rates.
We’ve also put together a new briefing on Influencing Decision Makers to help you know how to effectively engage your representatives. This complements earlier briefings on Effective Campaigning and setting upLunchtime Campaign Groups. Check out the Resources section for more info.
It is particularly worthwhile arranging a visit to your MP in the first 100 days of Parliament. We hope these resources will help you get prepared, and please let us know how your meetings go!
Get up to date on the latest stats. The Office for National Statistics has recently released asylum statistics for 2014. These reveal that:
– Asylum applications to the UK have risen slightly (24,917 applications in 2014, compared to 23, 507 in 2013; which equates to a 6% rise).
– There has been a rise in the number of people waiting more than the Home Office’s target of 6 months for an initial decision (there were 17,067 cases pending initial decision at the end of 2014, of which 8,427 were over 6 months old).
– In 2014, 28% of appeals against refusal were allowed, which compares to 25% of appeals allowed in 2013. The percentage of appeals allowed are much higher for certain nationality groups.
– In 2014, Germany, France, Sweden and Italy all received more asylum applications than the UK, with Germany receiving more than five times as many as the UK.
For full details, see: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2014/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2014#asylum-1