UK: Computer System Scrapped

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BBC

Thursday, 15 February, 2001, 10:33 GMT Scrapped computers fuel asylum row

There is a backlog of 66,000 asylum applications The government has come under renewed fire over asylum after abandoning a multi-million pound computer system designed to speed up the processing of applications.

The Conservative Party has condemned the move as a waste of taxpayers money - but have themselves been blamed by the government for ordering the "over-ambitious" system in the first place.

The £77m project was intended to help reduce the backlog of asylum applications, currently standing at 66,000, but has been dogged by problems since its installation in 1998.

News of its scrapping, announced by Home Secretary Jack Straw in a Commons written reply, follows a warning by immigration service workers that the asylum system had effectively collapsed.

'Record deception'

On Wednesday, Tory leader William Hague accused the government of a "record amount of deception and failure" over the whole asylum issue.

It is now almost certain to remain a key political battleground in the run-up to the general election expected within the next three months.

The computer system was designed to be used by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) to replace much of the time-consuming paperwork involved in asylum cases.

Asylum requests were supposed to be dealt with from application through to final decision all within the one system, streamlining and accelerating the process.

Extra staff needed

Instead, the IND has had to take on thousands of extra staff to deal with the applications.

Immigration and Asylum Minister Barbara Roche refused to confirm reports that the cancellation could cost taxpayers £80m but said the government was in negotiations with the computer company involved.

"The Tories brought in the system, they announced at the time that it would do everything but make the tea," she told the BBC.

"They said massive savings would come from it and then when asylum applications were actually rising in Britain under them they earmarked the voluntary redundancy of about 1,200 staff.

"What we've had to do is to recruit hundreds and hundreds of extra caseworkers, support staff and immigration officers in order to put this right."

But the Tories have described the situation as shambolic and accused the government of failing to get a grip on the growing backlog of cases.

Shadow home secretary Ann Widdecombe accused the government of giving the computer system the "least possible chance" with, for example, the timing of an office relocation.

She said since the 1997 general election the government had been claiming it was getting the asylum system under control.

"They could have blamed us much earlier. Why suddenly four years later say: 'Actually, despite all our promises, we can't cope'?"

In the Commons on Wednesday, Mr Hague challenged the prime minister at question time over those asylum seekers who had had their claims rejected.

'Deception and failure'

Of the 69,000 applicants turned down last year, only 9,000 had actually left the country, the Tory leader said.

"Doesn't everyone now know the true record of this government - a record number of applications, a record number of avoidance of deportation and a record amount of deception and failure," said Mr Hague.

Mr Blair confirmed the figures but added: "That is three times the amount that were removed five years ago under your government.

"It is also correct, however, that the overall number of people removed is indeed some 46,000."

Earlier this week, the Immigration Service Union said that, according to its members, just 12 illegal immigrants were being removed from the UK each month.

It claimed the asylum process had been turned into a "criminal racket".

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), February 15, 2001


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