Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has put in place to ensure Biometric Residence Permits are distributed to applications without any delays.
Answered by Kevin Foster
UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) advises applicants they can expect delivery of their Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) within 10 working days of receiving their decision notification.
BRPs are produced on behalf of UKVI by the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA). DVLA has a service level agreement to complete 90% of production requests within one working day and the remaining 10% within two working days. For quarter one of financial year 2021/22 they achieved 85.1% (218,527) within 24 hours and 100% (256,730) within 48 hours.
FedEx took over the BRP delivery contract from DX in February 2020, after a bedding in period formal reporting started in July 2020. Between 1 July 2020 and 31 March 2021 FedEx attempted to deliver 99.2% of BRPs within 48 hours of collection from DVLA, against a target to attempt delivery within 48 hours of collection for 99% of BRP packages.
Therefore, first delivery will have been attempted within 10 working days of decision notification for all BRPs successfully produced by DVLA.
Between March and mid-December 2020, as a social distancing measure due to the coronavirus pandemic, UKVI agreed to allow FedEx to post all BRP packages which resulted in higher first time delivery success rates of 92.73% between August and December 2020, but higher volumes of mis-posts and losses. We therefore re-introduced the contractual requirement to knock on every door, check identity, capture the name of the recipient and take a photograph of the front door within FedEx’s tracking system. Once all social distancing restrictions have eased, signatures will also be required for every delivery. As a result, between January and May 2021 FedEx achieved 84.34% first time delivery success rate.
Where it is possible to do so FedEx will leave a ‘Sorry we missed you’ card detailing how the customer can re-arrange delivery. Where UKVI has been able to share customer contact details with FedEx it will also email or SMS message the customer with a delivery failure message explaining how to re-arrange delivery.
UKVI meets with FedEx at least twice a week, to discuss measures to improve first time delivery success rates.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of Biometric Residence Permits are despatched to applicants within seven to 10 days of them receiving a decision letter.
Answered by Kevin Foster
UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) advises applicants they can expect delivery of their Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) within 10 working days of receiving their decision notification.
BRPs are produced on behalf of UKVI by the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA). DVLA has a service level agreement to complete 90% of production requests within one working day and the remaining 10% within two working days. For quarter one of financial year 2021/22 they achieved 85.1% (218,527) within 24 hours and 100% (256,730) within 48 hours.
FedEx took over the BRP delivery contract from DX in February 2020, after a bedding in period formal reporting started in July 2020. Between 1 July 2020 and 31 March 2021 FedEx attempted to deliver 99.2% of BRPs within 48 hours of collection from DVLA, against a target to attempt delivery within 48 hours of collection for 99% of BRP packages.
Therefore, first delivery will have been attempted within 10 working days of decision notification for all BRPs successfully produced by DVLA.
Between March and mid-December 2020, as a social distancing measure due to the coronavirus pandemic, UKVI agreed to allow FedEx to post all BRP packages which resulted in higher first time delivery success rates of 92.73% between August and December 2020, but higher volumes of mis-posts and losses. We therefore re-introduced the contractual requirement to knock on every door, check identity, capture the name of the recipient and take a photograph of the front door within FedEx’s tracking system. Once all social distancing restrictions have eased, signatures will also be required for every delivery. As a result, between January and May 2021 FedEx achieved 84.34% first time delivery success rate.
Where it is possible to do so FedEx will leave a ‘Sorry we missed you’ card detailing how the customer can re-arrange delivery. Where UKVI has been able to share customer contact details with FedEx it will also email or SMS message the customer with a delivery failure message explaining how to re-arrange delivery.
UKVI meets with FedEx at least twice a week, to discuss measures to improve first time delivery success rates.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the efficiency of her Department's manufacture and distribution of Biometric Residence Permits.
Answered by Kevin Foster
UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) advises applicants they can expect delivery of their Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) within 10 working days of receiving their decision notification.
BRPs are produced on behalf of UKVI by the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA). DVLA has a service level agreement to complete 90% of production requests within one working day and the remaining 10% within two working days. For quarter one of financial year 2021/22 they achieved 85.1% (218,527) within 24 hours and 100% (256,730) within 48 hours.
FedEx took over the BRP delivery contract from DX in February 2020, after a bedding in period formal reporting started in July 2020. Between 1 July 2020 and 31 March 2021 FedEx attempted to deliver 99.2% of BRPs within 48 hours of collection from DVLA, against a target to attempt delivery within 48 hours of collection for 99% of BRP packages.
Therefore, first delivery will have been attempted within 10 working days of decision notification for all BRPs successfully produced by DVLA.
Between March and mid-December 2020, as a social distancing measure due to the coronavirus pandemic, UKVI agreed to allow FedEx to post all BRP packages which resulted in higher first time delivery success rates of 92.73% between August and December 2020, but higher volumes of mis-posts and losses. We therefore re-introduced the contractual requirement to knock on every door, check identity, capture the name of the recipient and take a photograph of the front door within FedEx’s tracking system. Once all social distancing restrictions have eased, signatures will also be required for every delivery. As a result, between January and May 2021 FedEx achieved 84.34% first time delivery success rate.
Where it is possible to do so FedEx will leave a ‘Sorry we missed you’ card detailing how the customer can re-arrange delivery. Where UKVI has been able to share customer contact details with FedEx it will also email or SMS message the customer with a delivery failure message explaining how to re-arrange delivery.
UKVI meets with FedEx at least twice a week, to discuss measures to improve first time delivery success rates.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the (a) scale and (b) nature of the criminal practice known as cuckooing in (i) England and (ii) Wales; what steps her Department has taken to tackle that practice; and what (A) financial, (B) technical and (C) other resources her Department is making available to tackle that crime.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Cuckooing is a form of exploitation that devastates lives. This Government takes all forms of exploitation seriously and is determined to tackle it.
We recognise that the use of cuckooed addresses remains a feature of county lines gangs’ activities. We work closely with law enforcement partners on this issue through our £25m County Lines Programme. Through our programme, we are funding the National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC) to improve the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response, including related exploitation and vulnerability. NCLCC are responsible for delivering the National Strategic Assessment for county lines and the next assessment, for the period covering 2020, will be published shortly where Cuckooing will be highlighted.
In addition, on 20 January 2021, the Government announced £40m dedicated funding for FY 21/22 to tackle drugs supply and county lines and surge our activity against these ruthless gangs. This will allow us to expand and build upon the successful results of our £25m county lines programme. The funding has already seen more than 3,400 people arrested, more than 550 lines closed, drugs with a street value of £9 million and £1.5 million cash seized, and more than 770 vulnerable people safeguarded.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to provide support for local authorities to waive the fee for a further notice of intention to marry for couples whose wedding ceremonies have been cancelled as a result of covid-19 restrictions.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government provides guidance on how to access the local government income compensation scheme for lost sales, fees and charges as a result of Covid -19.
This new, one-off income loss scheme will compensate local authorities for irrecoverable and unavoidable losses from sales, fees and charges income generated in the delivery of services in the last financial year
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress the Government has made on establishing a National Crime Laboratory.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Establishing a National Crime and Justice Laboratory is part of the Government’s ambition to make better use of data in the fight against crime.
We are working closely with stakeholders from across the Criminal Justice System to deliver this manifesto commitment. This has included a project working with stakeholders and suppliers to explore the technical requirements needed to underpin its development.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page five of the National Crime Agency's report entitled County Lines Drug Supply, Vulnerability and Harm 2018, what recent assessment she has made of the prevalence of concealing drugs internally for transportation in (a) England and (b) Wales.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
This Government is taking action to target those who seek to exploit vulnerable children through their county lines operations, which includes the practice of concealing drugs internally for transportation.
On 20 January, the Government announced £40m of dedicated investment to tackle drugs supply and county lines and surge our activity against these ruthless gangs. This will allow us to expand and build upon the successful results of our existing £25m county lines programme and brings the total invested to £65 million since November 2019.
Through our county lines programme we are funding the National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC) to improve the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response. NCLCC are responsible for delivering the National Strategic Assessment for county lines and the next assessment, for the period covering 2020, will be published shortly.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of Biometric Residence Permit cards are produced by the DVLA within 10 working days of a notification of the decision to grant leave being sent out.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
DVLA processes all BRP within 10 working days of receiving the request. It has a service level agreement to complete 90% of production requests within one working day and the remaining 10% within two working days. For the financial year 2020/21 it achieved 69.3% (630,173) within 24 hours and 97.9% (259,977) within 48 hours. 2.1% (19,250) took longer than 48 hours.
The production of BRPs outside the 48 hour target was the result of a production failure at DVLA over a three working day period between 22 – 26 October 2020. The average processing time of the 19,250 affected was three working days. This enabled our secure delivery provider, FedEx, to attempt to deliver all BRPs within 10 working days of the decision notification being issued.
UKVI meets with DVLA weekly to monitor performance. The impacts of Covid-19 restrictions and safe working practices have reduced staffing capacity within the production site and contributed to the delays experienced in failing to achieve the 24 hour SLA.