Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to clear existing UK Visas and Immigration backlogs.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office is pursuing a programme of transformation and business improvement initiatives which will speed up decision making, reduce the time people spend in the system and reduce the numbers who are awaiting an interview or decision. This includes increasing the number of decision makers and providing improved training and career progression opportunities to aid retention of staff. We are continuing to develop existing and new technology to help build on recent improvements such as digital interviewing and move away from a paper-based system. We are streamlining and digitalising the case working process to enable more effective workflow, appointment booking and decision-making.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of hon. Members' queries to UK Visas and Immigration services are responded to within their target time of 20 working days.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Department works to a target of responding to 95% of MPs written correspondence within 20 working days. Performance has been impacted by a very significant increase in the volume of correspondence received, alongside the need for Ministers and officials to instigate a remote process for drafting and signing correspondence during the period of COVID-19 restrictions.
The Department recognises it has not been able to meet service standard in some cases but has implemented an action plan to clear backlogs and drive up performance.
Data about intake and performance in answering MP Correspondence are published quarterly and this includes data up to and including the end of quarter 2 – 2021. This can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/customer-service-operations-data-q2-2021
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Home Office:
What steps her Department is taking to help police forces tackle road traffic offences.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
How road traffic offences are enforced and how resources are deployed are operational matters for the individual Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables in conjunction with local policing plans.
The police have a range of powers available to them in road traffic legislation and will in each case decided what the most appropriate enforcement action is.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department spent on (a) opinion polling and (b) focus groups in each month since January 2019.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Opinion polling and focus groups - along with other research methodologies and techniques - are conducted across the Department by individual business areas.
Each Directorate is responsible for commissioning work to meet their specific business needs. The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time taken is for a decision on an application for asylum.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office does not publish data on the average time taken to make a decision on an asylum application. In addition, we cannot provide data on the average time taken to receive a decision in particular region such as Yorkshire and Humber, such data can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
However, the Home Office does publish data on the number of pending applications that have been awaiting an initial decision for more or less than 6 months. This data can be found at Volume 1, as_01 of the Immigration Statistics December 2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-december-2018/list-of-tables#asylum
In line with our ambition to promote a greater understanding and transparency of the asylum system and to develop service standards that are meaningful and command confidence, plans are underway for UKVI to implement new service standards for asylum case working. This change means UKVI will be moving away from the six-month service standard for straightforward cases which was introduced in 2014.
It had become clear that the current service standard no longer best served those that used our services and a number of stakeholders had been concerned that not all cases were captured by it.
For these reasons, it has been agreed to change how Asylum Operations proritise their workload. This means, in the short term, Asylum Operations will reprioritise cases by focusing on claims with acute vulnerability and those in receipt of the greatest level of support, including Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC). Additionally, cases where an individual has already received a decision, but a reconsideration is required, will also be prioritised. The implications of the change on applicants have been considered and appropriate mitigations put in place, with the most vulnerable groups being prioritised as appropriate.
The intention is for this approach to bring balance back to the asylum system while steps are taken to increase the capacity of the asylum decision making system and focus on process improvements to deliver better quality decisions more efficiently.
To come to a longer-term arrangement for service standards that meet the needs of those seeking asylum and the country, UKVI have engaged with key partners in the Strategic Engagement Group (SEG) and other NGOs to redesign the way in which claims are prioritised. This engagement started on 4 December 2018 and over 100 organisations were invited to service standards workshops, which included members of SEG and National Asylum Stakeholder Forum (NASF) sub groups. 41 organisations out of the 100 attended workshops nationally.
We aim to ensure that we design our new service standards to deliver a world leading immigration service for those seeking asylum in the UK.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time taken is for Home Office decisions on applications for asylum in the Yorkshire and Humber region.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office does not publish data on the average time taken to make a decision on an asylum application. In addition, we cannot provide data on the average time taken to receive a decision in particular region such as Yorkshire and Humber, such data can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
However, the Home Office does publish data on the number of pending applications that have been awaiting an initial decision for more or less than 6 months. This data can be found at Volume 1, as_01 of the Immigration Statistics December 2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-december-2018/list-of-tables#asylum
In line with our ambition to promote a greater understanding and transparency of the asylum system and to develop service standards that are meaningful and command confidence, plans are underway for UKVI to implement new service standards for asylum case working. This change means UKVI will be moving away from the six-month service standard for straightforward cases which was introduced in 2014.
It had become clear that the current service standard no longer best served those that used our services and a number of stakeholders had been concerned that not all cases were captured by it.
For these reasons, it has been agreed to change how Asylum Operations proritise their workload. This means, in the short term, Asylum Operations will reprioritise cases by focusing on claims with acute vulnerability and those in receipt of the greatest level of support, including Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC). Additionally, cases where an individual has already received a decision, but a reconsideration is required, will also be prioritised. The implications of the change on applicants have been considered and appropriate mitigations put in place, with the most vulnerable groups being prioritised as appropriate.
The intention is for this approach to bring balance back to the asylum system while steps are taken to increase the capacity of the asylum decision making system and focus on process improvements to deliver better quality decisions more efficiently.
To come to a longer-term arrangement for service standards that meet the needs of those seeking asylum and the country, UKVI have engaged with key partners in the Strategic Engagement Group (SEG) and other NGOs to redesign the way in which claims are prioritised. This engagement started on 4 December 2018 and over 100 organisations were invited to service standards workshops, which included members of SEG and National Asylum Stakeholder Forum (NASF) sub groups. 41 organisations out of the 100 attended workshops nationally.
We aim to ensure that we design our new service standards to deliver a world leading immigration service for those seeking asylum in the UK.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of asylum claims are decided within the Home Office’s service standard that 98 per cent of straightforward claims will be decided within 6 months.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
In line with our ambition to promote a greater understanding and transparency of the asylum system and to develop service standards that are meaningful and command confidence, plans are underway for UKVI to implement new service standards for asylum case working. This change means UKVI have moved away from the six-month service standard for straightforward cases which was introduced in 2014.
It had become clear that the service standard no longer best served those that used our services and a number of stakeholders had been concerned that not all cases were captured by it.
The intention is for this approach to bring balance back to the asylum system while steps are taken to increase the capacity of the asylum decision making system and focus on process improvements to deliver better quality decisions more efficiently.
Data on the proportion of asylum claims that are decided within the Home Office’s previous service standard, which was to decide 98 per cent of straight-forward claims within 6 months can be found at Asy_10: Percentage of Asy-lum applications processed within 6 months, Asylum Transparency data February 2019: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-transparency-data-february-2019
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans he has to allow individuals who have not received a decision on their asylum claim after six months the right to work.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Asylum seekers can work in the UK if their claim has been outstanding for 12 months, through no fault of their own. Those allowed to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List, which is published by the Home Office and based on expert advice from the Migration Advisory Committee.
During the Meaningful Vote debate on 5 December, the Home Secretary stated that although there are no current plans to change the current policy, it is an area he wished to review, and work on this is ongoing.
In making any policy changes, it is important to distinguish between those who need protection and economic migrants, who can apply for a work visa under the Immigration Rules. Our wider policy could be undermined if migrants could bypass work visa routes by lodging unfounded asylum claims.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to reduce the time taken for asylum decisions to be made.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office does not publish data on the average time taken to make a decision on an asylum application. In addition, we cannot provide data on the average time taken to receive a decision in particular region such as Yorkshire and Humber, such data can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
However, the Home Office does publish data on the number of pending applications that have been awaiting an initial decision for more or less than 6 months. This data can be found at Volume 1, as_01 of the Immigration Statistics December 2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-december-2018/list-of-tables#asylum
In line with our ambition to promote a greater understanding and transparency of the asylum system and to develop service standards that are meaningful and command confidence, plans are underway for UKVI to implement new service standards for asylum case working. This change means UKVI will be moving away from the six-month service standard for straightforward cases which was introduced in 2014.
It had become clear that the current service standard no longer best served those that used our services and a number of stakeholders had been concerned that not all cases were captured by it.
For these reasons, it has been agreed to change how Asylum Operations proritise their workload. This means, in the short term, Asylum Operations will reprioritise cases by focusing on claims with acute vulnerability and those in receipt of the greatest level of support, including Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC). Additionally, cases where an individual has already received a decision, but a reconsideration is required, will also be prioritised. The implications of the change on applicants have been considered and appropriate mitigations put in place, with the most vulnerable groups being prioritised as appropriate.
The intention is for this approach to bring balance back to the asylum system while steps are taken to increase the capacity of the asylum decision making system and focus on process improvements to deliver better quality decisions more efficiently.
To come to a longer-term arrangement for service standards that meet the needs of those seeking asylum and the country, UKVI have engaged with key partners in the Strategic Engagement Group (SEG) and other NGOs to redesign the way in which claims are prioritised. This engagement started on 4 December 2018 and over 100 organisations were invited to service standards workshops, which included members of SEG and National Asylum Stakeholder Forum (NASF) sub groups. 41 organisations out of the 100 attended workshops nationally.
We aim to ensure that we design our new service standards to deliver a world leading immigration service for those seeking asylum in the UK.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to ensure modern slavery does not take place within the Government's supply chains.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Tackling modern slavery is a priority for the Home Office and it is committed to working with suppliers to address modern slavery in its supply chains. Home Office procurement teams use the Standard Selection Questionnaire introduced in September 2016. This includes Mandatory Exclusion Grounds for any bidders convicted of human trafficking or slavery offences.
The Home Office is working with other departments to agree an effective approach to further assessing and managing the risk of human trafficking in supply chains across Government.