I was really pleased this week to welcome a number of students and young people from Hackney to my Westminster Experience Day. They got the chance to talk to me and another MP, as well as senior members of staff at the House of Commons, about career opportunities in Parliament. Seeing such bright and politically engaged young people is always reassuring – they asked focused, sharp, and pertinent questions about the issues of the day. It is good to know the future of Hackney and the UK is in safe hands.  

The Public Accounts Committee published a report on the Asylum Transformation Programme. This is the Prime Minister's pledge to reduce the number of asylum cases yet to be decided by 175,000 by the end of the year. However, the Home Office hasn't recruited enough caseworkers, and it is making decisions slower than planned - so the outlook isn't positive. And while reducing the asylum backlog is important, there are now backlogs in other aspects of the immigration system (such as visas). There is clearly a lot of work yet to be done on this issue. See here for the full report and here for a summary.