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388300

	registered interest
	date	07/07/2015
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Passports: British Nationals Abroad
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) number and (b) proportion of applications for a passport for a child overseas take longer than (a) three, (b) four and (c) six months to be processed.
	tabling member constituency	Edinburgh East
	tabling member printed	Tommy Sheppard
	uin	5846
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2015 answer text <p>A total of 49,173 international child passport applications finished processing in January-June 2015. Of this total, <del class="ministerial">2,418 (4.9%)</del> <ins class="ministerial">3,242 (6.6%)</ins> took longer than three months to be processed, <del class="ministerial">1,780 (3.6%)</del> <ins class="ministerial">2,539 (5.2%)</ins> took longer than four months to be processed, and <del class="ministerial">944 (1.9%)</del> <ins class="ministerial">1,657 (3.4%)</ins> took longer than six months to be processed.</p><p>The processing time is the length of time from receipt of the application to the passport being printed. For international child passport applications processed in the same period, the average processing time was 19.4 working days. Information is not held on the time between receipt of application and interview date as the date of interview can be subject to customer availability.</p><p>Her Majesty’s Passport Office must be fully satisfied that all appropriate checks have been completed successfully prior to the issuance of passport facilities. This is particularly important in relation to child applications as part of Her Majesty’s Passport Office responsibility to protect potentially vulnerable children, including those potentially at risk of child trafficking and to maintain the integrity of the British Passport.</p><p>These checks can require the provision of information from other agencies overseas – particularly in complex applications such as surrogacy cases.</p><p>Delays in the provision of this information to HMPO can lead to significantly extended timeframe in processing applications.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire question first answered 15/07/2015 15:19:26 question first ministerially corrected 05/08/2015 13:22:11 answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire previous answer version 14230 answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire
	tabling member	4453 label Biography information for Tommy Sheppard

388302

	registered interest
	date	07/07/2015
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Passports: British Nationals Abroad
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time is for processing a passport application for a child overseas from the initial application to the interview in connection with that application.
	tabling member constituency	Edinburgh East
	tabling member printed	Tommy Sheppard
	uin	5848
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2015 answer text <p>A total of 49,173 international child passport applications finished processing in January-June 2015. Of this total, <del class="ministerial">2,418 (4.9%)</del> <ins class="ministerial">3,242 (6.6%)</ins> took longer than three months to be processed, <del class="ministerial">1,780 (3.6%)</del> <ins class="ministerial">2,539 (5.2%)</ins> took longer than four months to be processed, and <del class="ministerial">944 (1.9%)</del> <ins class="ministerial">1,657 (3.4%)</ins> took longer than six months to be processed.</p><p>The processing time is the length of time from receipt of the application to the passport being printed. For international child passport applications processed in the same period, the average processing time was 19.4 working days. Information is not held on the time between receipt of application and interview date as the date of interview can be subject to customer availability.</p><p>Her Majesty’s Passport Office must be fully satisfied that all appropriate checks have been completed successfully prior to the issuance of passport facilities. This is particularly important in relation to child applications as part of Her Majesty’s Passport Office responsibility to protect potentially vulnerable children, including those potentially at risk of child trafficking and to maintain the integrity of the British Passport.</p><p>These checks can require the provision of information from other agencies overseas – particularly in complex applications such as surrogacy cases.</p><p>Delays in the provision of this information to HMPO can lead to significantly extended timeframe in processing applications.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire question first answered 15/07/2015 15:19:26 question first ministerially corrected 05/08/2015 14:35:08 answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire previous answer version 15266 answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire
	tabling member	4453 label Biography information for Tommy Sheppard

416723

	registered interest
	date	04/09/2015
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Disclosure and Barring Service: Standards
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the performance of the Disclosure and Barring Service.
	tabling member constituency	Croydon North
	tabling member printed	Mr Steve Reed
	uin	8920
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/09/2015 answer text <p>The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) provides the Home Office with monthly updates on performance. Latest figures (relating to July 2015) show that the average processing time for disclosure applications was 14.3 days. The DBS operates to a target to issue 95% of disclosure certificates within 56 days (8 weeks) and in July 95.2% were issued within this time.</p><p>DBS funding for police disclosure units in 2013-14 and 2014-15 is set out in the <del class="ministerial">attached table.</del> <ins class="ministerial">attached table.</ins> Decisions on the operational deployment of resources, including vacancy filling, are matters for Chief Constables in association with Police and Crime Commissioners.</p><p>The DBS is working closely with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to help reduce the time taken to process disclosure checks for all applicants including taxi drivers in London. The MPS has established a Gold Group, which includes DBS representation, to develop and implement a plan to improve MPS disclosure turnaround times.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Staffordshire Moorlands answering member printed Karen Bradley question first answered 18/09/2015 10:39:08 question first ministerially corrected 21/09/2015 11:00:28 answering member 4110 label Biography information for Dame Karen Bradley attachment 1 file name PQ 8918 DBS funding to police forces 2013-14 20 14-15 07 09 15 (1).xlsx title DBS Table previous answer version 22168 answering member constituency Staffordshire Moorlands answering member printed Karen Bradley answering member 4110 label Biography information for Dame Karen Bradley
	tabling member	4268 label Biography information for Steve Reed

387869

	registered interest
	date	06/07/2015
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Entry Clearances: English Language
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many companies bid for the Secure English Language Test for applicants abroad; what the value was of that contract; and who was awarded that contract.
	tabling member constituency	Leicester East
	tabling member printed	Keith Vaz
	uin	5707
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/07/2015 answer text <p>Three companies bid for the Secure English Language Test for applicants abroad. <ins class="ministerial">Four companies bid for the Secure English Language Test for applicants within the UK.</ins> The contract was awarded to IELTS Consortium; the Consortium is made up of Cambridge English Language Assessment as Consortium Lead, with British Council and IDP IELTS Australia. The Concession Agreement is cost neutral as it was procured as a concession, rather than a contract, with test-takers paying the test provider directly. The Home Office has not provided funding to the service providers under this arrangement. An estimate of the market value is approximately £60 million per annum worldwide, based on expected volumes of upwards of 400,000 SELT tests at an average cost of £150 per test.</p> answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire question first answered 13/07/2015 14:25:42 question first ministerially corrected 21/07/2015 16:00:55 answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire previous answer version 13700 answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire
	tabling member	338 label Biography information for Keith Vaz

175778

	registered interest
	date	26/01/2015
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Undocumented Workers: Fines
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many companies were fined for employing illegal immigrants in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Delyn
	tabling member printed	Mr David Hanson
	uin	222054
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/02/2015 answer text <p>The information requested is <ins class="ministerial">shown</ins> in the following table. The figures are based on the number of civil penalties issued to individual employers during each of the last five complete financial years. This includes public and private limited <br />companies, sole traders, partnerships and franchises. <br /><br />The government is committed to taking effective action against employers of illegal workers. Illegal working drives illegal immigration which leads to exploitation of workers and is also linked to non payment of the national <br />minimum wage, harmful working conditions and tax evasion. Illegal working also undercuts legitimate businesses and adversely impacts on the employment of people who are lawfully resident in the UK.<br /><br />The government has therefore taken measures to strengthen our approach to rogue employers. In 2014, we doubled the maximum civil penalty that can be levied against an employer to £20,000 per illegal worker and we used the Immigration Act 2014 to make it easier to enforce unpaid penalties in the courts. We have also extended our enforcement reach by working more closely across government departments to identify where illegal working is taking place and to enforce a range of sanctions against employers of illegal workers.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><ins class="ministerial">Financial year </ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">Civil penalties issued </ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">Employers issued with civil penalties </ins></td></tr><tr><td><ins class="ministerial">2009-10</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">2,339</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">2,254</ins></td></tr><tr><td><ins class="ministerial">2010-11</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">1,899</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">1,849</ins></td></tr><tr><td><ins class="ministerial">2011-12</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">1,341</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">1,317</ins></td></tr><tr><td><ins class="ministerial">2012-13</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">1,270</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">1,247</ins></td></tr><tr><td><ins class="ministerial">2013-14</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">2,150</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">2,090</ins></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hemel Hempstead answering member printed Mike Penning question first answered 04/02/2015 12:43:46 question first ministerially corrected 06/02/2015 10:41:06 answering member 1528 label Biography information for Sir Mike Penning previous answer version 42849 answering member constituency Hemel Hempstead answering member printed Mike Penning answering member 1528 label Biography information for Sir Mike Penning
	tabling member	533 label Biography information for David Hanson

226039

	registered interest
	date	09/03/2015
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Agency Workers
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many agency staff are employed in (a) her Department, (b) the Passport Office, (c) UK Visas Immigration and (d) the Border Force.
	tabling member constituency	Delyn
	tabling member printed	Mr David Hanson
	uin	226758
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/03/2015 answer text <p>The number of agency workers employed by (a) the Home Department, (b) Her Majesty’s Passport Office, (c) UK Visas and Immigration and (d) Border Force is <br />provided in Table 1.<br /><br />The number of full-time equivalent staff employed and the projected staffing levels for March 2015 broken down by (a) the Home Department, (b) Her Majesty’s <br />Passport Office, (c) UK Visas and Immigration and (d) Border Force is provided in Table 2.<br /><br />The information provided for staff and agency workers in post is as at 31st January 2015.<br /><br />The Home Department is currently finalising projected staffing levels for 2015-16 as part of the annual planning round so projected levels beyond March 2015 are not yet available.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire question first answered 16/03/2015 15:04:13 question first ministerially corrected 26/03/2015 12:03:07 answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire attachment 1 file name Copy of PQ 226758 Table 1 and 226759 Table 2 V2.xls title NEW TABLES previous answer version 50156 answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire attachment 1 file name PQ 226758 Table 1 and 226759 Table 2.xlsx title Agency workers and the full-time employed
	tabling member	533 label Biography information for David Hanson

226040

	registered interest
	date	09/03/2015
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Staff
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many full-time equivalent staff there are in (a) her Department, (b) the Passport Office, (c) the Border Force and (d) UK Visas and Immigration; and what the projected staffing levels are for each such body for (i) March 2015, (ii) November 2015, (iii) March 2016 and (iv) November 2016.
	tabling member constituency	Delyn
	tabling member printed	Mr David Hanson
	uin	226759
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/03/2015 answer text <p>The number of agency workers employed by (a) the Home Department, (b) Her Majesty’s Passport Office, (c) UK Visas and Immigration and (d) Border Force is <br />provided in Table 1.<br /><br />The number of full-time equivalent staff employed and the projected staffing levels for March 2015 broken down by (a) the Home Department, (b) Her Majesty’s <br />Passport Office, (c) UK Visas and Immigration and (d) Border Force is provided in Table 2.<br /><br />The information provided for staff and agency workers in post is as at 31st January 2015.<br /><br />The Home Department is currently finalising projected staffing levels for 2015-16 as part of the annual planning round so projected levels beyond March 2015 are not yet available.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire question first answered 16/03/2015 15:04:13 question first ministerially corrected 26/03/2015 12:07:37 answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire attachment 1 file name Copy of PQ 226758 Table 1 and 226759 Table 2 V2.xls title NEW TABLE previous answer version 50331 answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire attachment 1 file name PQ 226758 Table 1 and 226759 Table 2.xlsx title Agency workers and the full-time employed
	tabling member	533 label Biography information for David Hanson

416425

	registered interest
	date	04/09/2015
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Undocumented Migrants: France
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost of additional (a) security staff and (b) sniffer dogs deployed at Calais since 1 June 2015.
	tabling member constituency	Delyn
	tabling member printed	Mr David Hanson
	uin	8664
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/09/2015 answer text <p>The costs of additional security staff and sniffer dogs in June, July and August 2015 were:</p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><del class="ministerial"> </del></td><td><p><del class="ministerial"><strong>June</strong></del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial"><strong>July</strong></del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial"><strong>August</strong></del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Security staff</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">£57,000</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">£94,000</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">£121,000</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Sniffer dogs</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">£45,000</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">£90,000</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">£207,000</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial"><strong>TOTAL</strong></del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial"><strong>£342,000</strong></del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial"><strong>£272,000</strong></del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial"><strong>£614,000</strong></del></p></td></tr></tbody></table><table><tbody><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial"><strong>June</strong></ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial"><strong>July</strong></ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial"><strong>August</strong></ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial"><strong>Total</strong></ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Security staff</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">£57,000</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">£94,000</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">£121,000</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial"><strong>£272,000</strong></ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Sniffer dogs</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">£45,000</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">£90,000</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">£207,000</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial"><strong>£342,000</strong></ins></p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire question first answered 18/09/2015 09:43:43 question first ministerially corrected 23/09/2015 10:49:20 answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire previous answer version 22134 answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire
	tabling member	533 label Biography information for David Hanson

421426

	registered interest
	date	14/10/2015
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Detention Centres
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish the findings of the follow-up audit of reports made under Rule 35 of the Detention Centre Rules 2001.
	tabling member constituency	Meriden
	tabling member printed	Mrs Caroline Spelman
	uin	11915
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/10/2015 answer text <p>Stephen Shaw CBE, the former Prisons and Probation Ombudsman for England and Wales, has completed the review into the welfare of vulnerable immigration detainees which the Home Secretary asked him to conduct, and has recently submitted his report to Ministers at the Home Office and Department of Health. His findings are being carefully considered. The report will be published by laying it before Parliament, alongside the Government’s response to the recommendations. The Government intends to publish the Rule 35 audit alongside <ins class="ministerial">publication of</ins> Stephen Shaw’s report.</p> answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire question first answered 22/10/2015 16:26:07 question first ministerially corrected 23/10/2015 11:04:04 answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire previous answer version 25141 answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire
	tabling member	312 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Spelman