http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5193018.stm
Asylum backlog 'under-estimated'
'Inadequate records mean officials do not know exact numbers'
Ministers are set to admit that they may have significantly under-estimated the number of failed asylum seekers living in Britain, the BBC has learnt.
Last year the National Audit Office estimated that the figure could be as much as 283,000 - but at the time the Home Office insisted that was too high.
But a trawl of files in the Immigration and Nationality department has produced between 400,000 and 450,000 case files.
The news comes as Home Secretary John Reid is set to shake-up his department.
Home Office sources say that because of poor record keeping, officials are unable to calculate the exact number of failed asylum seekers, but the figure is far higher than previous estimates.
'Amazed'
The revelation means that the backlog of asylum cases will therefore take longer to clear.
The government has so far refused to say how long it estimates will be needed to clear the asylum backlog.
IMMIGRATION FACTS:
Backlog of failed asylum seekers due to be removed from the UK: 155,000-283,000
Time the PAC says it will take to clear the backlog: 10-18 years
Voluntary departures from UK in January and February: 770
Time taken to decide asylum application: 90% made within two months under new rules
Q&A: Asylum removals
But a recent report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) warned that it would take between 10 and 18 years.
Committee chairman Edward Leigh told the BBC he was "amazed" by the disclosures.
"Are we going to take the next half a century to perhaps clear the backlog of failed asylum seekers because the Home Office is in such chaos?"
BBC political editor Nick Robinson said he had been told that the filing system in the immigration department "sometimes consists of cardboard files on a windowsill covered in Post It notes".
He said officials did not know if the contents were duplicated, if people had died or moved or are now allowed to stay in the UK.
Sackings 'possible'
Ministers will have to inform Parliament of the error since Sir John Gieve, the ex-permanent secretary at the Home Office, gave inaccurate information to the PAC.
It was also Sir John who was forced to apologise to the same committee about the number of foreign prisoners who could and should have been deported.
The news comes as Mr Reid is set to unveil plans for reforming his department, which he described as "not fit for purpose".
He made the stark assessment following the release of more than 1,000 foreign prisoners without consideration for deportation, which led to the sacking of Charles Clarke as home secretary in May.
Nick Robinson says he understands a major shake-up of the way the Home Office is run will see many senior officials moved from their posts or sacked.
Prison places
The Immigration and Nationality Directorate will become an agency run "at arms length" from ministers, he said.
The BBC understands that Mr Reid is also set to announce funding for 8,000 new prison places - boosting current capacity in British jails from around 78,000.
No timetable on when these new prison places will be introduced has been disclosed.
Under existing plans, an extra 1,000 places would become available from next June and by 2007, the capacity would reach 80,400. Ministers have concluded that this is inadequate.
The Treasury insists that the Home Office budget for the next three years has not been reopened.
It claims the Home Office has not spent all its capital budget and will make 3% annual efficiency savings.
Asylum backlog 'under-estimated'
'Inadequate records mean officials do not know exact numbers'
Ministers are set to admit that they may have significantly under-estimated the number of failed asylum seekers living in Britain, the BBC has learnt.
Last year the National Audit Office estimated that the figure could be as much as 283,000 - but at the time the Home Office insisted that was too high.
But a trawl of files in the Immigration and Nationality department has produced between 400,000 and 450,000 case files.
The news comes as Home Secretary John Reid is set to shake-up his department.
Home Office sources say that because of poor record keeping, officials are unable to calculate the exact number of failed asylum seekers, but the figure is far higher than previous estimates.
'Amazed'
The revelation means that the backlog of asylum cases will therefore take longer to clear.
The government has so far refused to say how long it estimates will be needed to clear the asylum backlog.
IMMIGRATION FACTS:
Backlog of failed asylum seekers due to be removed from the UK: 155,000-283,000
Time the PAC says it will take to clear the backlog: 10-18 years
Voluntary departures from UK in January and February: 770
Time taken to decide asylum application: 90% made within two months under new rules
Q&A: Asylum removals
But a recent report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) warned that it would take between 10 and 18 years.
Committee chairman Edward Leigh told the BBC he was "amazed" by the disclosures.
"Are we going to take the next half a century to perhaps clear the backlog of failed asylum seekers because the Home Office is in such chaos?"
BBC political editor Nick Robinson said he had been told that the filing system in the immigration department "sometimes consists of cardboard files on a windowsill covered in Post It notes".
He said officials did not know if the contents were duplicated, if people had died or moved or are now allowed to stay in the UK.
Sackings 'possible'
Ministers will have to inform Parliament of the error since Sir John Gieve, the ex-permanent secretary at the Home Office, gave inaccurate information to the PAC.
It was also Sir John who was forced to apologise to the same committee about the number of foreign prisoners who could and should have been deported.
The news comes as Mr Reid is set to unveil plans for reforming his department, which he described as "not fit for purpose".
He made the stark assessment following the release of more than 1,000 foreign prisoners without consideration for deportation, which led to the sacking of Charles Clarke as home secretary in May.
Nick Robinson says he understands a major shake-up of the way the Home Office is run will see many senior officials moved from their posts or sacked.
Prison places
The Immigration and Nationality Directorate will become an agency run "at arms length" from ministers, he said.
The BBC understands that Mr Reid is also set to announce funding for 8,000 new prison places - boosting current capacity in British jails from around 78,000.
No timetable on when these new prison places will be introduced has been disclosed.
Under existing plans, an extra 1,000 places would become available from next June and by 2007, the capacity would reach 80,400. Ministers have concluded that this is inadequate.
The Treasury insists that the Home Office budget for the next three years has not been reopened.
It claims the Home Office has not spent all its capital budget and will make 3% annual efficiency savings.
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