Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with (a) the post office network and (b) educational establishments on the management of biometric residence permits at the start of the academic year 2015-16.

The Home Office has worked with Post Office Limited and the education sector to review the proposed branch collection network ahead of the 2015-16 academic year. Particular concerns have been to identify ‘hotspots’, and to identify universities which are relatively remote from their nearest collection branch.

The Home Office has offered the largest universities the option of having BRPs delivered to them, rather than requiring each student to attend a Post Office branch to collect in person. Universities operating this process must have appropriate security arrangements in place for bulk storage of BRPs and only use approved staff to perform the identity verification activity that would have been performed in branch by Post Office staff.

The Home Office has also reviewed with the Post Office and the school sector the best approach for child students, who require a responsible adult to supervise their collection at the Post Office. As a result, we have introduced a Third Party Standing Authority process which allows named school staff to collect BRP on behalf of their students, significantly reducing the administrative burden on the school and removing the need to transport pupils to and from the Post Office branch.