Draft Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2018

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Monday 5th February 2018 General Committees

[Afzal Khan (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)]

We are not opposed to these measures. However, we do have some concerns and questions, which I will put to the Minister. On fines for those who fail to collect their biometric residence permit, will the provisions apply to those who legitimately cannot collect permits in time—for example, if they are ill or hospitalised? Why does the Home Office not allow people from outside the UK to have the BRP sent to a nominated address in the UK? How many of these fines does the Minister expect the Government to collect?

Turning to the super premium service proposals, the cost to individuals and families has become extortionate. The proposed arbitrary rate is a lot of money. What is the justification for privatisation? Why cannot the Home Office provide the service itself? Would it not be better and cheaper to sort out the chaos in the Home Office and then pay a private company to take over that part of it?

At the moment, people are finding out that even when they pay for premium service, their applications are severely delayed and decision making is poor. We do not want to see a private company being brought in and charging more but offering a worse service than that being offered at present. What has the Minister done to ensure that that will not happen?

Last year, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman investigated double the number of complaints against the Home Office compared with 2015-16 and upheld 60% of them. Some 95% of the complaints were immigration-related. The key issues people complained about were delays and decision making. In order to compete internationally for talent, students and tourists, who all contribute massively to our economy, we need urgently to reform the efficiency and effectiveness of the Home Office—£2,600 an hour is a lot of money. How long do these applications usually take and how much does the Minister expect people will be charged? At the maximum £2,600 an hour, if it takes four hours to process an application it will cost more than the £10,500 currently charged. It is feasible that some complex applications will take more than four hours to process.

Finally, the fees will include a profit for the commercial partner. I regret that applicants are now having to pay for a private profit as well as the cost of processing their application. How much does the Minister expect the profit margin will be? Has the Home Office started finding contractors and negotiating with them, and if not, when does it intend to do that?

--- Later in debate ---

[Caroline Nokes]

I thank the hon. Lady for that comment. If she wants to raise specific cases with me, I am very happy to look at them. However, the reality is that, where issues are complicated and visa applications are not straightforward, it is absolutely right that full rigour is applied to inspecting and determining them.

[Afzal Khan]

On the issue of complexity, how do we know that the process is not being abused by the Home Office? Are there set formulae or criteria that say what is complex?