Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average processing time is for (a) a British passport and (b) renewal of a British passport as of 8 June 2022.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Since April 2021, people have been advised to allow up to ten weeks when applying for their British passport as more than 5 million people delayed applying due to the pandemic. The vast majority of all passport applications continue to be dealt with well within 10 weeks.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what record her Department holds of applications for British passports received in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021 that were processed within the service standard time.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The volume of passport applications received is published quarterly in HM Passport Office’s transparency data.
The most recent published data can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hm-passport-office-data-q1-2022
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the current average processing time for an asylum application.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office publishes data on the number of asylum applications awaiting an initial decision by duration, for main applicants only. This data can be found at This data can be found at Asy_04 of the published Immigration Statistics: List of tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Home Office also publishes data on the percentage of asylum applications processed within 6 months of the date of claim. Data showing the number of asylum claims received in 2019, 2020 and 2021 that were processed within 6 months can be found at Asy_01 of the Asylum Transparency Data dated May 2022: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-and-protection-data-q1-2022
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what records her Department holds of asylum claims received in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021 that were processed within six months.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office publishes data on the number of asylum applications awaiting an initial decision by duration, for main applicants only. This data can be found at This data can be found at Asy_04 of the published Immigration Statistics: List of tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Home Office also publishes data on the percentage of asylum applications processed within 6 months of the date of claim. Data showing the number of asylum claims received in 2019, 2020 and 2021 that were processed within 6 months can be found at Asy_01 of the Asylum Transparency Data dated May 2022: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-and-protection-data-q1-2022
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the National Disability Strategy, published July 2021, what recent steps her Department has taken to publish a new cross-government strategy to tackle the crime and disorder that undermines the quality of life for everyone, including hate crime.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
This Government is committed to tackling crime and disorder as set out in the Beating Crime Plan we published in July 2021. The plan outlines our strategy to reduce crime by protecting the law-abiding majority, swiftly bringing criminals to justice and managing offenders.
In the Beating Crime Plan we set out our commitment to tackling hate crime, all instances of which are completely unacceptable. The Government’s new Strategy for tackling hate crime will be published shortly. It will include plans for tackling disability hate crime, building on our achievements under the 2016-20 Hate Crime Action Plan.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy, published July 2021, what recent steps her Department has taken to (a) encourage and support workplace disability networks, (b) achieve and maintain the highest level of Disability Confident accreditation, (c) ensure responsive and timely support to meet workplace adjustment needs and (d) develop and embed flexible working.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
a) ABLE is the Home Office’s disability related staff support network. Encouragement and support are provided through the Diversity & Inclusion Team, part of Human Resources. Recently this encouragement and support includes:
ABLE form part of the Disability Champions Board and are empowered to represent and act as the voice for disabled colleagues across the Home Office. They play a key role as a critical friend offering constructive challenge to the department.
Recently Senior Officials supported ABLE as part of UK Disability History Month 2021 and International Day of People with Disabilities 2021. Our Permanent Secretary, 2nd Permanent Secretary and our SCS level Home Office Disability Champion where amongst those who spoke with passion about this important topic.
b) The Home Office is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader Employer, the highest level of Disability Confident accreditation. This renewal accreditation was confirmed in March 2021. Our accreditation is valid for 3 years and recognises our work to date to create an empowering culture for colleagues with disabilities and/or long-term health conditions.
c) The Home Office’s Workplace Adjustments Guidance was updated in July 2021. The process for obtaining Workplace Adjustments includes internal online purchasing processes which allow digital hardware, digital software, furniture, and equipment to be purchased swiftly. The Workplace Adjustments Team form part of the Diversity & Inclusion Team within Human Resources, providing support and guidance to line managers and job holders, helping ensure compliance with the Equality Act.
d) We have recently updated our flexible working policy and publicised it to employees in support of the launch of our hybrid working approach. We provide guidance to managers on the use of workplace adjustments, which may include the use of flexible working arrangements where this best meets the needs of a disabled employee.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of (a) the reliability of her Department's chosen courier service and (b) reports from applicants of the loss of confidential documentation in transit to and from her Department's offices.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
British passports, Biometric Residence Permits, and Home Office Travel Documents are delivered under HM Passport Office’s UK secure delivery contract.
HM Passport Office works closely with all of its suppliers to ensure that services are delivered in line with our robust contractual demands; ensuring that any issues are resolved as quickly as possible. Reports of any loss are fully investigated and inform security reviews.
In response to some pressures within the UK delivery network, which peaked in late-November 2021, HM Passport Office has worked with its delivery partner to identify the solutions that have helped this service to meet the required performance targets.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason courier tracking numbers for delivery of confidential personal documentation are not routinely provided by her Department to applicants.
Answered by Kevin Foster
For delivery of British passports, Biometric Residence Permits, and Home Office Travel Documents, tracking numbers, and a link to the online tracker, are provided to customers directly by the UK Secure Delivery provider.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy, published 28 July 2021, what progress her Department has made on building a pipeline of talent for the accessibility profession by using existing successful and emerging career development programmes to tackle the skills shortage.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
In October 2021, the Home Office welcomed it’s first emerging talent role to our well-established accessibility team. The role is a pilot project to understand the support, training and mentoring required for new entrants into the accessibility profession. Since the publication of the National Disability Strategy, the Department for Education has approved a new Digital Accessibility Specialist apprenticeship route (https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/digital-accessibility-specialist-v1-0).
Home Office Officials are working with other government departments to identify opportunities for adoption of this apprenticeship as the foundation of a talent pipeline for the future. The department is also involved in a cross-industry group discussing the ongoing development of this apprenticeship.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy, published 28 July 2021, what progress her Department has made on improving how digital products and services are procured (a) by the government and (b) across the public sector as a whole.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Home Office officials have been working within the department to identify and trial improvements to how digital products and services are procured in order to recommend future cross government and cross public sector improvements.
This has included model contract language, guidance for buyers and improved accessibility involvement in some procurement activity. We expect that throughout the next financial year we’ll begin work with the Crown Commercial Service to identify improvements through it’s frameworks and processes to improve the accessibility of procurement.