Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average telephone waiting time is for people phoning HM Passport Office.
Answered by Kevin Foster
In May 2022, the average waiting time for calls answered by the Passport Adviceline, which is run by Teleperformance, was 13 minutes.
However, only 50.8 % of calls to the Passport Adviceline were answered. Teleperformance are required to improve this performance as soon as possible and, as part of their rectification plan, are in the process of adding 500 call agents compared to their position in mid-April.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, further to the Answer of 24 May to Question 1238, in what format the passport office gathers data to measure if service standard times for processing passports are being met, and how they compare performance over time.
Answered by Kevin Foster
While average processing times before 6 April 2021 are held, prior to this date the published processing time for standard applications from the UK differed by application type. The data is not held in a reportable format to demonstrate performance by application type against these differing processing times.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will take steps to ensure that migrant women who are victims of domestic abuse can be granted residence in the UK which is not dependent on the spouse or partner who is the perpetrator of that abuse.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Tackling domestic abuse is a key priority for this Government and we are committed to supporting all victims of domestic abuse. Anyone who has suffered domestic abuse must be treated as a victim first and foremost, regardless of immigration status.
On 30 March, we published the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan which will seek to transform the whole of society’s response to prevent offending, support victims and pursue perpetrators, as well as to strengthen the systems in place to deliver these goals.
Support is provided to migrant victims of domestic abuse through our Destitute Domestic Violence Concession (DDVC) which enables those victims, who entered the UK on certain partner or spousal visas, three months access to public funds, which can be used to fund safe accommodation.
Migrant victims can also apply for settlement through the Domestic Violence Indefinite Leave to Remain Rules (DVILR). The intention is to safeguard eligible victims by offering them leave independent of the abusive partner.
Following the Government’s review of support for migrant victims in 2020, last year we launched the Support for Migrant Victims Scheme to provide a support net for victims who are not eligible to apply under the DDVC.
The 12-month pilot, run by Southall Black Sisters and their delivery partners, and supported with £1.5 million of Government funding, has provided wraparound support services for migrant victims of domestic abuse with no recourse to public funds. Support includes: accommodation, subsistence, and counselling.
The pilot and independent evaluation aims to ensure that we have a robust evidence base to inform future policy decisions. The evaluation will be producing a final report in Summer 2022.
In the interim, we will provide £1.4 million in 2022-23 to continue to fund support for migrant victims of domestic abuse, whilst we take on board vital lessons learned from the pilot to inform future policy decisions.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the total cost has been of using Teleperformance to provide HM Passport Office's Passport Adviceline services.
Answered by Kevin Foster
HM Passport Office’s expenditure is published annually in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts.
For 2021/22, this is planned for publication prior to the summer recess, and will be laid in the House.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of call-backs take place within the specified 48 hour period for those who apply to upgrade their passport applications.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Teleperformance currently capture a wide range of data, however they do not currently capture a break down on calls made specifically regarding upgrade requests.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what percentage of passport applications have been processed within HM Passport Office's own service standard times in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The data is not held in a reportable format and could therefore only be obtained at a disproportionate cost
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she will introduce further visa policy concessions for (a) Russian and (b) Belarussian nationals at risk of persecution for speaking out against the war in Ukraine.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government’s humanitarian visa schemes introduced following the Russian invasion of Ukraine are open to Ukrainians and their family members only. Full detailed eligibility criteria are published on gov.uk:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-a-ukraine-family-scheme-visa
https://apply-to-offer-homes-for-ukraine.service.gov.uk/
The Government has no plans to extend its Ukraine visa policy concessions to wider groups.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Ukrainian nationals who have applied for a UK visa have arrived in the UK since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Information on the number of Ukrainian arrivals in the UK via the Ukraine Family Scheme and the Homes for Ukraine Scheme can be found here:
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make the UKVI Ukraine helpline free for callers.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Phone calls made to the advertised (+44) 0808 number are free of charge already.
Whilst the majority of callers are able to access the freephone number, a small number of network providers do not allow access to 0808 numbers. For customers unable to dial 0808 numbers there is an alternative number available (+44) 0175 which may come at a network rate charge depending on the phone provider used to make the call.
Each country is responsible for access to 0808 via their network providers.
Further information can be found on GOV.UK at: www.gov.uk/call-charges
When setting up the phone line our focus was to ensure it was easy to access both from the UK and abroad.