NV Wright is wrong to say that the government has recently cut down on the number of asylum cases 'by allowing all applicants, prior to a certain date, to have leave to remain in the country' (see [2003] Gazette, 13 November, 16) The government's announcement states that only 15,000 families will be granted indefinite leave to remain.

In my opinion, the government does not go far enough and there are many people who have been waiting for a decision from the Home Office for many years on their asylum claims.

They will still be waiting to find out whether or not they will be returned to the country from which they fled for many more years.

I can assure your correspondent that those families who will be granted leave to remain under the concession have been waiting substantially longer than the three months that your correspondent mentions.

There is too much talk of asylum seekers being a drain on society recently and most of it is, of course, nonsense.

It is wrong to cut public funding in immigration or ration it in any way - and more lawyers ought to be encouraged to do this type of work.

The Law Society should also do more to encourage the Legal Services Commission to grant more contracts in the immigration category, especially in London where there is a large concentration of asylum seekers.

Vinod Sharma, Sharma and Co, Ilford, Essex