I think it will be the same staff processing the refugee applications. Why do I say this? Well I think that to work at CIC it takes time to recruit, train and run a background check (absolutely vital when handling large amounts of confidential data). The training of staff would take a large amount of time. You would think that processing refugee applications would require a lot more though, skill, care and foresight.
As the clock is ticking, the number of working days between now and the New Year only 33 (I assume they will not work weekends, Christmas Day and Boxing Day (brought fwd to Mon 28 Dec) as 26 Dec falls on a public holiday. That makes 757 applicants per day. As I said in another post if you were a CIC officer, would you want to process extra economic migrant applications? I think the vast majority of us (in that position) would say no.
Hence, my conclusion (in my humble opinion). No draw before the New Year. If there is one (or more) I think they pick a high number to process a minimal amount of applications.
I imagine I will get criticism for this post and am happy to eat humble pie (if I am wrong).