THE Government’s “loss of control” of the asylum system means that it will take between ten and eighteen years to remove all failed applicants from the country, says a highly critical Commons report.

The Home Office has lost track of tens of thousands of failed asylum-seekers and only knows where a quarter of them are living. It also has no idea of the whereabouts of 400 foreign national criminals released from prison.

The report said that the Government’s overall asylum policy has been undermined by the failure of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate to remove failed applicants.

“The Directorate had experienced severe problems with asylum removals and acknowledged a loss of control in the past,” said the report by the Commons’ Public Accounts Committee.

Edward Leigh, chairman of the committee, said: “Failed asylum applicants are in increasing numbers staying in this country knowing that there is very little likelihood they will be apprehended and removed. The fact is that no one really knows how many of them remain in the UK or where most are living.”

He added: “The situation is extremely serious and the Directorate must take a hard look at its approach to removals. It must, without delay, establish a target for making substantial inroads on the backlog of older cases.” The report said that the backlog of failed asylum-seekers awaiting removal was estimated by the Home Office at between 155,000 and 283,500.

But the department cannot be more precise because it has not kept track of them or has failed to collect sufficient information on those who have moved house or departed without telling the authorities.

The failure to keep tabs on failed applicants means that they will only become liable to removal if they are caught committing a crime or when immigrations officers target illegal working or sham marriages.

All the asylum-seekers who apply “in country”, rather than at port, will be tagged in future, Tony McNulty, the Immigration Minister, told MPs yesterday. An estimated 83 per cent applied “in country” last year.

OFF-TRACK

Failed applicant’s removal by force cost £9,000; £1,120 for assisted voluntary return

Times Recommends

• Phoebe Caldwell wins Times/Sternberg Award
• Raging against fake pop has its own pitfalls
• How a voice for everyone led to stalemate