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Written Question
HM Passport Office and UK Visas and Immigration: Staff
Thursday 26th October 2023

Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average pay is for staff at grades (a) executive officer and (b) PO3 in the Passport Office; and what the average pay levels are for (i) administrative and (ii) executive officer staff in UKVI where Passport Office staff have been tasked to assist.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

Below is the average pay across the Home Office, which includes HMPO and UKVI, for AO/PO3 grades:

  • National: £24,800
  • London: £28,800

Below is the average pay across the Home Office for Executive Officer grades:

  • UKVI EO London: £32,359
  • UKVI EO National: £28,272
  • HMPO EO London: £32,437
  • HMPO EO National: £28,335

* AO/PO3 are paid the above average salary regardless of length of service.


Written Question
HM Passport Office: Staff
Thursday 26th October 2023

Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what date her Department's officials started planning to provide HM Passport Office executive and administrative officers to assist UKVI teams; and who proposed the request for assistance.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

Staff resources are regularly redeployed across the Home Office to meet business demands and priorities. HM Passport Office take a flexible approach in supporting these priorities and demands when necessary.


Written Question
HM Passport Office: Staff
Thursday 26th October 2023

Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much time was allocated to training (a) EO and (b) PO3 staff at HM Passport Office who have assisted UK Visas and Immigration teams with asylum applications; and what level of training was provided.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

Home Office staff are given all the necessary training to ensure that they are fully equipped to carry out their role. HM Passport Office staff who have assisted in the processing of asylum applications, were given the standard training time, with further supplementary training provided as necessary.


Written Question
HM Passport Office: Staff
Thursday 26th October 2023

Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) EO and (b) PO3 staff are employed by HM Passport Office in (i) Glasgow, (ii) Liverpool and (iii) Belfast; and how many and what proportion of these staff have been asked to assist with (A) booking and (B) conducting interviews with asylum applicants on behalf of UK Visas and Immigration in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Home Office are unable to provide this information due to security reasons. The way data is captured does not differentiate between bookings and interviews.


Written Question
Asylum: Afghanistan
Monday 21st November 2022

Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether there has been an increase in the number of Afghan citizens claiming asylum in the UK since August 2021.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on asylum applications and initial decisions on asylum applications from Afghan nationals can be found in tables Asy_D01 and Asy_D02 of the ‘asylum and resettlement detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks. The latest data relate to the year ending June 2022. Data for the year ending September 2022 will be published on 24 November 2022. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.

The Home Office does not publish data on ethnicity or religion of asylum applicants.


Written Question
Asylum: Afghanistan
Monday 21st November 2022

Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Hazara Muslims have (a) applied for asylum in the UK, (b) been granted asylum in the UK and (c) reached the UK after being granted asylum through the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on asylum applications and initial decisions on asylum applications from Afghan nationals can be found in tables Asy_D01 and Asy_D02 of the ‘asylum and resettlement detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks. The latest data relate to the year ending June 2022. Data for the year ending September 2022 will be published on 24 November 2022. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.

The Home Office does not publish data on ethnicity or religion of asylum applicants.


Written Question
Refugees: Afghanistan
Friday 10th June 2022

Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of people that will be resettled in the UK under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme UNHCR pathway in 2022.

Answered by Kevin Foster

The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) commenced on 6th January, providing up to 20,000 women, children and others at risk with a safe and legal route to resettle in the UK.

We helped over 15,000 people to safety in the biggest and fastest emergency evacuation in recent history, and we have continued to bring people to the UK, with over 3,000 people helped to enter since the evacuation.

In light of the success of our evacuation efforts, we expect to exceed our initial aim of resettling 5,000 through the Scheme in the first year.

Community Sponsorship provides the opportunity for friends and neighbours, charities and faith groups to play a direct role in supporting families resettled to the UK as they restart their lives here. Sponsors are able to welcome and support families through the ACRS.

The number resettled through the ACRS and Community Sponsorship will be published soon in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.


Written Question
Refugees: Afghanistan and Ukraine
Friday 10th June 2022

Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff and contractors (a) are processing cases for the (i) Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and (ii) Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) and (b) have been redeployed from (A) ARAP and (B) ACRS to support the (1) Ukraine family reunification and (2) Homes for Ukraine schemes.

Answered by Kevin Foster

We are committed to ensuring our operational teams have the resources they need to run an efficient and effective system, and we actively monitor workflows to ensure sufficient resources are in place to meet demand, including from pressures relating to the situations in Afghanistan and Ukraine.


Written Question
Refugees: Afghanistan
Friday 10th June 2022

Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) British nationals and (b) relatives of those nationals have been or are being resettled under the first pathway of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (i) during and (ii) since Operation Pitting.

Answered by Kevin Foster

Following the evacuation from Afghanistan over the summer, work is underway to ensure information relating to all the individuals relocated under both schemes are recorded on case working systems. Once this work concludes, statistics on ACRS and ARAP will be included in future editions of the Immigration Statistics.


Written Question
Refugees: Afghanistan
Friday 10th June 2022

Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people, including principals and relatives, have been supported through Community Sponsorship under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme as of 26 May 2022.

Answered by Kevin Foster

The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) commenced on 6th January, providing up to 20,000 women, children and others at risk with a safe and legal route to resettle in the UK.

We helped over 15,000 people to safety in the biggest and fastest emergency evacuation in recent history, and we have continued to bring people to the UK, with over 3,000 people helped to enter since the evacuation.

In light of the success of our evacuation efforts, we expect to exceed our initial aim of resettling 5,000 through the Scheme in the first year.

Community Sponsorship provides the opportunity for friends and neighbours, charities and faith groups to play a direct role in supporting families resettled to the UK as they restart their lives here. Sponsors are able to welcome and support families through the ACRS.

The number resettled through the ACRS and Community Sponsorship will be published soon in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.