Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans she has for the reform of the asylum system; and if she will make a statement. [71107]

Damian Green MP; Minister of State (Immigration) [holding answer 9 September 2011]:Reform of the asylum system has already begun, through our Asylum Improvement Project.

We have already seen improvement outcomes from this project. We have scrapped the system which encouraged case owners to concentrate on files that were easy to resolve and discouraged them from tackling older cases and have introduced a new performance framework consisting of a wide range of performance indicators which will help us to monitor the overall health of the asylum system.

The project published its one-year-on progress report in May 2011. The report can be found on the UK Border Agency website.
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/aboutus/reports/asylum-improvement-project/