Pugh told MPs on Wednesday that the number of applications in the backlog had risen by 25,000 to 508,000 since June, but insisted: "The Passport Office is not in chaos".
(See "Profit A Distant Prospect For ASML").. ASML's order backlog had risen to 1.35 billion euros ($2 billion) from 1.06 billion euros ($1.6 billion), in the third quarter; the backlog totaled 54 systems with an average selling price of 25.1 million euros ($37.4 million).
Backlogs had risen a revised four-tenths of 1percentt in February and three-tenths in January.
The backlog of unsold single-family homes has risen to 10.5 months of sales, the highest for 22 years.
As a consequence, and despite an infusion of $160 million earmarked for cutting the backlog, the number of pending applications has risen by nearly 60percentt over the last three years, to 6.2 million, according to a recent congressional report.
The backlog of asylum seekers awaiting removal from Britain has risen by more than 5,000 in a year.
Their inquiry report also shows that the backlog of asylum seekers waiting more than six months for an initial decision has risen by 63% in the last year to 32,600 applicants.
Today, that figure has risen to more than 100,000, and there are still huge backlogs, with nearly half a million claims stuck in the "assessment phase" for well over the 12-week target.
Backlog orders have risen about 20percentt from a year ago, while they were flat in the fourth quarter of 2001, the chief financial officer, Stanley Mayer, said.
By yesterday, the company's backlog of repair orders had risen to 78,000 since the strike began on Aug. 6.
