“Both participants recognise the need for capacity building: the UK has provided funds for the same, the Rwandan authorities have taken measures in terms of recruitment and training, and the numbers are, initially, low,” said Sir James.
Rwanda has established initial accommodation at Hope Hostel in Kigali with capacity for 200 migrants although it is constructing houses and flats for asylum seekers and has previously said it can take as many as Britain sends.
The Refugee Council has estimated Rwanda has the capability to accept no more than 10,000 migrants a year once the scheme becomes fully operational, which it says would leave at least 25,000 a year in limbo.
The figures were revealed in data published by the Home Office following Mr Sunak’s claim to have achieved his pledge to clear the backlog of more than 90,000 “legacy” asylum cases which predate June 2022.
This claim is disputed by Labour and refugee charities who have pointed to 4,500 unresolved “complex” cases within the 91,000. These have yet to be decided because the Government says there are outstanding security concerns, disputes over the age of the migrant or unresolved criminal issues.
The data also showed that there is still an outstanding backlog of 98,000 further asylum applications yet to be decided. These come on top of the processed 91,000 and a further 20,000 submitted after June 2022 that have been cleared – coming to a total of 112,000.
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