Home secretary David Blunkett has admitted that the target of removing 30,000 asylum seekers a year had been scrapped because it could not be met, writes Sally Gillen.
He told a meeting of the home affairs select committee that the target, which would have involved deporting 2,500 people each month, had been “massively overly ambitious”.
“We should not set targets that are not achievable,” he said. “I made a mistake and realised immediately that 30,000 was not achievable.”
He added that a new target would now be set.
Blunkett also said the Criminal Records Bureau’s target for processing applications for enhanced checks on people who work with children and vulnerable people had been doubled from three to six weeks.
He said the performance of the CRB so far had been “unacceptable” but that Capita, the private company that has a £400 million contract to run the vetting service in partnership with the home office, would not be penalised for the problems that have blighted it since its launch in April.
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