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1139298

	registered interest
	date	16/07/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Biometrics: Luton
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the closure of the Crown post office in Luton on the accessibility to biometric information services for visa or immigration applications.
	tabling member constituency	Luton South
	tabling member printed	Mr Gavin Shuker
	uin	277707
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>Customers making immigration applications can no longer use Post Office branches to enrol their biometrics in the majority of cases. Most customers now enrol their biometrics at a UK Visas &amp; Citizenship Application Service (UKVCAS) centre.</p><p>The previous service offered by the Post Office was biometric enrolment only, whereas the new UKVCAS service brings together multiple services to make the application process more streamlined.</p><p>The UKVCAS service is run by our commercial partner, Sopra Steria Ltd (SSL), who undertook market research to identify service locations; their research included the impact on customer travel time, cost and accessibility. The results of this were that 62% of customers will, on average, have to travel less than 25 miles to visit a core service point, with 78% travelling less than 50 miles.</p><p>SSL can also cater for customers who wish to have more flexible, on-demand, mobile application services, for example at university campuses, employers’ offices or individual customers’ homes.</p><p>As part of this contract SSL continuously captures and analyses customer feedback and reviews customer demand to ensure there is sufficient capacity. During May and June SSL opened six additional sites: Manchester, Cardiff, Exeter, Leeds, Sheffield and Edinburgh, with the view to open more.</p><p>For information on the closest core and enhanced service points to Luton, please see the UKVCAS website at: <a href="https://www.ukvcas.co.uk/locations.%20" target="_blank">https://www.ukvcas.co.uk/locations. </a></p> answering member constituency Romsey and Southampton North answering member printed Caroline Nokes question first answered 22/07/2019 15:56:55 answering member 4048 label Biography information for Caroline Nokes
	tabling member	4013 label Biography information for Mr Gavin Shuker

1137820

	registered interest
	date	09/07/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	UK Visas and Immigration: Biometrics
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria his Department uses to determine the locations in the UK where biometric information for visa or immigration applications can be provided.
	tabling member constituency	Luton South
	tabling member printed	Mr Gavin Shuker
	uin	275185
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The majority of customers will be able to submit their biometrics and supporting information for their visa application via a UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service (UK VCAS) centre, which are run by Sopra Steria Ltd (SSL) on behalf of UK Visas &amp; Immigration (UKVI). However, Individuals who have higher needs, may be vulnerable, or whose circumstances may be complex and would benefit from face to face interaction with the Home Office are directed to Service and Support Centres (SSC) where they will receive support with their application. The SSCs are all based in pre-existing locations which were previously used as premium service centres, which broadly align with the postal districts of our customers.</p><p>There are currently six core UKVCAS service points and seven core SSC’s across the UK at which application submission services are offered. The SSCs are based in Belfast, Cardiff, Croydon, Glasgow, Liverpool, Sheffield and Solihull.</p><p>SSL undertook market research to identify initial service locations for the UKVCAS service points; their research included the impact on customer travel time, cost and accessibility. Beyond that, SSL offer a range of enhanced services in a further 50 UKVCAS locations. These services enable customers to submit their biometric information (photo and fingerprints) and supporting evidence in one location. 62% of customers will, on average, have to travel less than 25 miles to visit a core service centre, with 78% travelling less than 50 miles. Appointments may be offered for individual customers and/or family groups to enrol their biometrics together.</p> answering member constituency Romsey and Southampton North answering member printed Caroline Nokes question first answered 15/07/2019 11:56:44 answering member 4048 label Biography information for Caroline Nokes
	tabling member	4013 label Biography information for Mr Gavin Shuker