03:17
Tieng Anh Vui
Immigration officials failed to pursue more than 3,000 leads when trying to track down missing asylum seekers, an independent inspector has found.
John Vine, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, said the now-defunct UK Border Agency (UKBA) took no action on 3,077 cases.
The UKBA deemed the Police National Computer matches "unreliable" but there was "no rationale" for this, he said.
Immigration minister Mark Harper said he "welcomed" the inspector's report.
Home Secretary Theresa May asked Mr Vine to conduct a follow-up investigation after a report published in November found serious failings at the UKBA.
The UKBA was closed in March and its functions were split into two parts, one focusing on the visa system and the other on immigration law enforcement.
Mr Vine's new report identified a number of improvements were made but he also highlighted some concerns.
These included the UKBA's failure to use the information from police on the missing asylum seekers.
He also found work had not yet started on archived cases and active reviews that had been reopened as a result of information garnered from the Police National Computer (PNC).
"I believe the Home Office needs to demonstrate to applicants, Parliament and the public that it has taken all reasonable action to identify whether individuals remain in the UK illegally," Mr Vine said.
"The Home Office will now need to ensure that these cases are afforded priority and publish a realistic and achievable timescale for the completion of all legacy asylum and migration cases."
'Very serious questions'
Mr Vine said a backlog of cases had risen from 18,000 in November 2010 to 98,000 in September 2011.
Earlier this year, the Home Affairs Select Committee said the backlog had reached more than 300,000, and warned it could take 24 years to clear.
Responding to the new report, the committee's chairman Keith Vaz said he was "astonished" the UKBA had failed to act on the police information.
"If data on the PNC is really considered unreliable by a Home Office agency, then that raises some very serious questions for the police," he said.
"It seems evidence of the UKBA's incompetence continues to surface from beyond the grave."
Immigration minister Mr Harper said: "The report comments positively on the progress made and we are now focused on reviewing each remaining legacy case in detail, to ensure the right decision is reached and appropriate follow-up action taken."
He said it would "take time to clear the backlogs and fix the system", but changes which had already been made meant the Home Office was in a "much stronger position" to tackle the problems.
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