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8,000 granted assisted asylum

Ian Craig
25/ 5/2004

MORE than 8,000 asylum seekers are being given government help to live in the north west, according to the latest government figures.

Although the number of asylum applications, including dependents, fell by 20 per cent in the first quarter of this year to 10,585, the north west still has the third highest number.

There are 7,835 asylum seekers being supported in special accommodation in the region, with another 905 getting cash help from the state.

An independent report today found that the government asylum statistics are broadly reliable, at a time when applications are continuing to fall.

Nationally, the number of applications, not including dependents, has dropped by 17 per cent to 8,940, which is down by 44 per cent on the same quarter last year.

And 80 per cent of decisions on new cases are now being made within two months.

Subsistence

The largest number of asylum seekers supported in accommodation in Greater Manchester is in the city itself, which has 1,405, followed by Salford with 965 and Bolton with 780.

Others: Bury 565, Oldham 615, Rochdale 420, Stockport 255, Tameside 285, Trafford 100, Wigan 720.

In addition, there are a number of asylum seekers getting subsistence without accommodation: Manchester 405, Bolton 40, Oldham 20, Salford 70, Stockport 20 and Trafford 25.

The National Audit Office today said that the government's asylum statistics were broadly reliable and the Home Office Minister Des Browne, who took over from the former minister Beverley Hughes (MP for Stretford and Urmston), said he was pleased that they had confirmed that the figures were reliable.

He said: "The government has dramatically cut asylum applications and the latest figures show that we are continuing to make progress in cutting the numbers of those who seeks to abuse the system."

Mr Brown added that more than 17,000 failed asylum seekers and dependents had been removed in the last year, but he said there was still more to be done to make it easier to remove people who have no legal right to be in this country.

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