Detained Fast Track report published

The Independent Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency, John Vine CBE QPM, has published his thematic inspection report of the UK Border Agency's Detained Fast Track (DFT) system.

The term 'Detained Fast Track' is used by the UK Border Agency to manage asylum applications that have been identified as ones where a decision to grant or refuse asylum can be made quickly.

The Chief Inspector was pleased to find that 93% of the decisions made by the Agency to refuse asylum were upheld by the independent Tribunal. However, he was concerned to find that:

• the DFT was not working as quickly as intended with decisions not being made until 13 days after a person's arrival in the DFT, despite the Agency's published aim of three days;
• 38% of the sampled refusal cases took longer than three months to remove;
• screening was not tailored to capture information that could fully determine whether someone was suitable for the DFT; and
• despite the cost of the detention and the impact on individuals, the Agency had not conducted or published any analysis of its DFT operation.