Today the Home Affairs Select Committee published a damning report into the work of the UK Border Agency, in particular focusing on the backlog of asylum cases.

The Committee described the UKBA as being ‘plagued by backlogs’. It also found that:

• The UKBA repeatedly supplied the Committee with incorrect information about the size of the asylum backlog, and the checks being carried out to try and trace applicants.
• The UKBA wrongly concluded that not being able to trace an applicant means that they are not in the UK. Regular checks to try and find applicants were not carried out over a significant time period and the final tracing programme was rushed.
• Lin Homer, who was in charge of the UKBA for much of the period in question ‘misled’ the Committee over the size of the asylum backlog.

Read the HASC’s full press statement and report here.