Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed question first answered answering member label previous answer version answering member constituency answering member printed answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1486634

	registered interest
	date	05/07/2022
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Visas: India
	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 waiting time was for a Standard Visitor visa application to be processed for applicants from Mumbai in the latest period for which data is available; whether her Department is taking steps to reduce the waiting time for those applicants; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Harrow West
	tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
	uin	30986
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/07/2022 answer text <p>The Home Office does not publish data on the individual processing times by location. It does publish data of its performance against its service level agreement, which can be found on the GOV.UK webpage: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data" target="_blank">Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a></p><p> </p><p>Resources are focussed on reducing the current processing times and will continue to prioritise urgent compelling or compassionate cases across all workstreams.</p><p> </p><p>UKVI encourages all customers to apply in good time ahead of intended travel dates, and customers can also make use of UKVI’s optional priority visa services for visit visas in certain locations.</p><p> </p><p>The Home Office is also continuing to invest in a programme of transformation and business improvement initiatives which will speed up and simplify decision making, reduce the time people spend in the system and decrease the number of people who are awaiting an interview or decision.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 13/07/2022 15:52:26 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
	tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1486658

	registered interest
	date	05/07/2022
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Visas: Applications
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department has made on processing the visa applications for family members of the constituent of the hon. Member for Harrow West, reference GT52722; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Harrow West
	tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
	uin	30987
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/07/2022 answer text <p>We do not comment publicly on individual cases.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 13/07/2022 15:51:15 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
	tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1485324

	registered interest
	date	01/07/2022
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Passports: Applications
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to (a) recruit more staff, (b) offer more upgrade appointments, (c) increase the responsiveness of the helpline for hon. Members and (d) put in place other resources to mitigate delays in processing passport applications; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Harrow West
	tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
	uin	28867
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/07/2022 answer text <p>Her Majesty’s Passport Office has added 850 staff since April 2021, which has enabled more passport applications to be processed than ever before. Approximately three million applications were completed across March, April, and May, and an additional 350 staff will arrive this summer to add further resilience to this processing capacity.</p><p>If a customer has made a standard application and now needs their passport sooner than the published processing times of ten weeks, they should contact the Passport Adviceline (0300 222 0000) to discuss any available options. For those who have yet to apply and need their passport more quickly, appointments for urgent services are released on a daily basis, three weeks in advance. Work to increase appointment capacity has led to the recent opening of an eighth public counter.</p><p>In light of the difficulties caseworkers have had in making contact about constituents’ passport matters, members of HM Passport Office staff are now dedicated to support on the Home Office’s MP Enquiry Line. 25 members of non-frontline staff have been trained so far, with an average of 15 staff on the phones each day. HM Passport Office staff are also available at Portcullis House from Monday to Friday, to provide in-person surgeries for the most urgent enquiries.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 14/07/2022 10:35:13 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster previous answer version 11915 answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
	tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1485325

	registered interest
	date	01/07/2022
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Passports: Applications
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff in her Department have been (a) redeployed and (b) hired since March 2022 to alleviate delays in processing passport applications; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Harrow West
	tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
	uin	28868
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/07/2022 answer text <p>Since April 2021, Her Majesty’s Passport Office have added over 850 additional staff to help meet the current unprecedented demand for passports, with almost 400 of these staff brought in since March 2022. A further 350 staff will added during the summer.</p><p> </p><p>HM Passport Office’s makes use of its own flexible resources, with fully trained staff being deployed to operational roles as required. It also routinely uses flexible resource from HMRC to support with peaks in passport demand, with over 80 full-time equivalents from HMRC supporting passport services in May.</p><p> </p><p>This has helped to process applications in record numbers. Across March, April, and May, HM Passport Office completed the processing of approximately three million applications, with 98.5% of applications from the UK being completed within the published processing time of up to ten weeks.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 14/07/2022 10:34:22 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster previous answer version 11913 answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
	tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1485326

	registered interest
	date	01/07/2022
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Passports: Applications
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what further support she plans to put in place to provide responses to the large number of constituent enquiries that hon. Members and their staff are making via the Home Office hub in Westminster as a result of delays in processing passport applications; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Harrow West
	tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
	uin	28869
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/07/2022 answer text <p>The UK Visas and Immigration, MP Account Management Team have recently increased the staffing at the Portcullis House hub by 50% to provide additional support for Members and their staff in answering enquiries about passport applications as well as about matters related to the situation in Ukraine.</p><p>Staffing levels at the hub continue to be reviewed to ensure the hub provides the best possible service to Members and their staff.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 14/07/2022 10:32:45 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster previous answer version 11921 answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
	tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1473082

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2022
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Refugees: Ukraine
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to allow Ukrainian refugees who travelled to the UK through the Ukraine Family Scheme following the Russian invasion to transfer to the Homes for Ukraine scheme so they can access a wider range of support from local authorities; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Harrow West
	tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
	uin	24536
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2022 answer text <p>The Ukraine Family Scheme was set up to ensure family members were able to reunite with family fleeing Ukraine ahead of the development of the Homes for Ukraine scheme. It is based on family visa routes which existed before the Ukraine conflict, where public services are funded out of council budgets and the same principle is applied here. The UK-based family member is expected to provide support and accommodation for those coming to join them, who in turn benefit from the wider integration advantages in joining an existing family network.</p><p>Ukrainian nationals coming to the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme are given access to work, benefits and public services as laid down in Appendix Ukraine to the Immigration Rules, details of which can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-ukraine-scheme" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-ukraine-scheme</a></p><p>Homes for Ukraine on the other hand is a unique scheme set up specifically to support those escaping the conflict in Ukraine who are not able to rely on UK based family support. The Government is providing additional funding to local authorities which includes resource to enable them to carry out sponsorship-specific functions such as safeguarding checks and property checks, administering payments, as well as providing support such as English language training to help their integration into communities.</p><p>We continue to keep the UK Government’s support under review and will adapt and develop the visa routes in place to ensure they keep pace with the situation in Ukraine and the needs of those who have sought sanctuary here.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 05/07/2022 10:42:23 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster previous answer version 10731 answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
	tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1464135

	registered interest
	date	18/05/2022
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Members: Correspondence
	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 of enquiries were received in her Department's dedicated inbox for hon. Members and (b) proportion of those were responded to within 20 working days in each of the last three months; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Harrow West
	tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
	uin	4456
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2022 answer text <p>The Department works to a target of responding to 95% of Hon. Members written correspondence within 20 working days.</p><p>Performance has been impacted by a significant increase in the volume of correspondence received, including the unprecedented amount of correspondence about the situation in Afghanistan and more recently in Ukraine.</p><p>The Department continues to prioritise enquiries related to Ukraine and recognises it has not been able to meet service standard in other cases. An action plan has been implemented to clear backlogs and drive-up performance.</p><p>The Department continues to recruit additional resources and has recently been loaned staff from non-operational areas to assist in clearing the backlogs. A detailed recovery plan to support a return to an acceptable service standard is being prepared.</p><p>Data about intake and performance in answering Hon. Members correspondence are published quarterly with the latest Quarter available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/customer-service-operations-data-q4-2021" target="_blank">Customer service operations data: Q4 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a></p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 01/06/2022 16:23:51 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster previous answer version 3537 answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
	tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1464136

	registered interest
	date	18/05/2022
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Naturalisation
	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 of recorded incidents there have been of errors on naturalisation certificates and (b) the average time for a corrected certificate to be issued was in each of the last six months; what steps she is taking to help prevent certificates containing errors being issued in future; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Harrow West
	tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
	uin	4457
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2022 answer text <p>The Home Office does not publish data in relation to the amendment of details on naturalisation certificates or the time taken for amended certificates to be issued. A request to amend a naturalisation certificate is not counted as a new application and current IT systems do not provide the specific data.</p><p>We have robust quality assurance measures in place and are continuously reviewing our processes to ensure we provide a high-quality service to our customers.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 01/06/2022 16:35:47 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster previous answer version 3536 answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
	tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1462390

	registered interest
	date	12/05/2022
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Passports: Applications
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of appointments available for people applying for a passport using the (a) online premium service and (b) one week fast track service; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Harrow West
	tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
	uin	1078
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2022 answer text <p>HMPO are looking at a range of interventions to increase our capacity for providing urgent service appointments as soon as possible.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 23/05/2022 10:45:49 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster previous answer version 1731 answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
	tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1462391

	registered interest
	date	12/05/2022
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Passports: Applications
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passport applications processed by her Department missed the 10-week processing target since 1 January 2022; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Harrow West
	tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
	uin	1079
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2022 answer text <p>Since April 2021, people have been advised to allow up to ten weeks when applying for their British passport as more than 5 million people delayed applying due to the pandemic. The vast majority of all passport applications continue to be dealt with well within 10 weeks</p><p><br> HM Passport Office has increased its staffing numbers by 650 since April 2021 and is in the process of recruiting a further 550. This has helped to ensure that passport applications continue to be processed in higher numbers than ever before, with the processing of almost two million applications being completed across March and April 2022.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 01/06/2022 16:05:14 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster previous answer version 1730 answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
	tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas