Asylum system 'not fit for purpose'

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The Independent Asylum Commission (IAC) inquiry also found that the system for deporting failed asylum seekers was undermining credibility and sapping public confidence.

The IAC - a committee of experts including peers, lawyers, churchmen and others with an interest in the asylum system - published its interim report and said the asylum system denies help to some who need it and is not "firm enough" in sending home unsuccessful applicants.

In 2006, the then home secretary John Reid said the asylum system was part of the Home Office which he deemed not fit for purpose.

The report said: "The commission has found that the UK asylum system is improved and improving, but is not yet fit for purpose.

"The system still denies sanctuary to some who genuinely need it and ought to be entitled to it, is not firm enough in returning those whose claims are refused and is marred by inhumanity in its treatment of the vulnerable."

The IAC has collected evidence from hundreds of witnesses during the last year.

It found that the systems to remove failed asylum seekers from Britain were "not effective and sap credibility and public confidence from the entire asylum system".

The report added: "The conduct of some enforced returns is tainted with inhumanity and causes unnecessary distress to the individuals and communities concerned.

"The policy of using destitution as a lever to encourage voluntary return of refused asylum seekers risks forcing some extremely vulnerable people - who might have qualified for sanctuary had their cases been well handled - to face persecution in their country of origin."