Asked by: Nick Gibb (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 September to Question 45259, how many people were given immigration status 3C leave in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021, and (d) January to September 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office does not hold this information.
Asked by: Nick Gibb (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the passport advice line.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Passport Adviceline continues to be an integral part of the wider passport service, helping to ensure that customer queries are resolved as quickly as possible. Between January and August this year, approximately 3 million calls were answered by the Passport Adviceline.
Asked by: Nick Gibb (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has taken steps to shorten the waiting times for people who call the passport advice line.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
His Majesty’s Passport Office has worked closely with Teleperformance to improve waiting times for callers to the Passport Adviceline. In August, the average wait time for a caller was 6 seconds.
Asked by: Nick Gibb (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the impact of delays in processing British passport applications on the processing times for other types of visa applications.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The response to the unprecedented demand for passports in 2022 has had no impact upon the processing times for UK visas.
Asked by: Nick Gibb (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the (a) number and (b) proportion of applications for British passports that have taken longer than 10 weeks to be processed in 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Between January and July 2022, 96.4% of the 5.3 million standard UK applications processed were completed within the published processing time of ten weeks.
Asked by: Nick Gibb (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to ensure that staff operating the passport advice line receive adequate training.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Teleperformance, who operate the Passport Adviceline, carry out a full training programme for all call agents. The training materials used are subject to review and approval by His Majesty’s Passport Office.
Asked by: Nick Gibb (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the customer service provided by Teleperformance, the company contracted to deliver the passport advice line.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Teleperformance have been responding to a formal rectification plan, and the service has significantly improved in response. In August, 98.73% of calls were answered within 30 seconds, exceeding the required service level of 80%.
Asked by: Nick Gibb (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what current contracts (a) her Department and (b) each of her Department's executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies hold with the Educational Testing Service or any of that organisation's subsidiaries.
Answered by Karen Bradley
There are currently no contracts held by the Home Department or any of its
executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies with the Educational
Testing Service or its subsidiaries.