Oral Answers to Questions

Rosie Cooper Excerpts

Monday 16th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

The hon. Gentleman talks of it as profit, but the revenue generated is used not just to provide public services to those people who make applications but to support wider public services. As I said, it is right that we have a balance between the costs of an application and the costs to which the taxpayer is exposed.

[Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab)]

3. What recent assessment he has made of the performance of UK Visas and Immigration against its target times for responses to members of the public.

[The Minister for Immigration (Caroline Nokes)]

The UKVI contact centre has set contractual targets for the commercial partner that delivers contact-centre services on its behalf. The achievement of those targets is monitored daily through the service-management team, to assure achievement. The team holds formal board review meetings monthly to review performance against the set key performance indicators.

[Rosie Cooper]

Is the Minister satisfied with the current target times and does she think they are appropriate? My constituent made an application in November 2017 and has not heard a single thing since—nothing.

[Caroline Nokes]

It is important to note that service standards are met in the vast majority of cases. If applications are not straightforward, we do not set a service standard, because we think it is right that applications should be considered thoroughly and in detail.