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  • Simon Burns – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    Simon Burns – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Burns on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, who was responsible for the appointment of Saxton Bampfylde for the search for a successor to the Clerk of the House and Chief Executive; and who will monitor its progress.

    John Thurso

    Following a competitive tendering process, Saxton Bampfylde was appointed on 29 May 2014 to support the recruitment of the next Clerk of the House and Chief Executive, in particular by providing executive search services. Three bids were received and evaluated by Mr Speaker and the Director General of HR and Change. The fee for these services is fixed at £18,000. The contract will be monitored by the Department of HR and Change. The recruitment brief to which Saxton Bampfylde are working will be placed in the Library.

    The Clerk of the House is appointed by the Crown by Letters Patent, on the recommendation of the Speaker to the Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister to the Crown. Short-listed candidates will be interviewed by a panel chaired by Mr Speaker, three other members of the House of Commons Commission, a senior backbencher and an external member.

  • Keith Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Keith Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were employed by HM Passport Office on (a) 1 January, (b) 1 February, (c) 1 March, (d) 1 April, (e) 1 May and (f) 1 June 2014.

    James Brokenshire

    The formal record for workforce data is made on the last day of each calendar
    month.
    Her Majesty’s Passport Office has employed the following numbers of full-time
    equivalents
    (FTEs).
    (a) On 31 December 2013: 3,333
    (b) On 31 January 2014: 3,390
    (c) On 28 February 2014: 3,434
    (d) On 31 March 2014: 3,469
    (e) On 30 April 2014: 3,489
    (f) On 31 May 2014: 3,506

    In order to ensure that the data is reported on a consistent basis, figures for
    April and May figures include 196 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) corporate services
    staff that transferred to the Home Office on 1 April 2014. This was part of a restructure
    of the Home Office Corporate Services function.

    Figures are for permanent civil servants employed by Her Majesty’s Passport
    Office, including Part Year Appointments and permanent members of staff
    employed on contracts for 9 months of the year. This excludes staff on secondment
    or loan, and agency and temporary staff – with these staff included, the March 2014
    figure is 3,444.

    Please note, Her Majesty’s Passport Office records migrated to the Department’s
    strategic record system during this period and are subject to enhanced validation
    checks. Several months in this time series have a variance of +/- 2 FTE.

  • Keith Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Keith Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people employed by HM Passport Office were specifically tasked with processing passport applications on (a) 1 January, (b) 1 February, (c) 1 March, (d) 1 April, (e) 1 May and (f) 1 June 2014.

    James Brokenshire

    The formal record for workforce data is made on the last day of each calendar
    month.
    The table below shows the number of Her Majesty’s Passport Office full-time
    equivalents working within the passport operational Directorates.
    (a) On 31 December 2013: 2,457
    (b) On 31 January 2014: 2,515
    (c) On 28 February 2014: 2,559
    (d) On 31 March 2014: 2,593
    (e) On 30 April 2014: 2,611
    (f) On 31 May 2014: 2,629

    Please note, Her Majesty’sPassport Office records migrated to the Department’s
    strategic record system during this period and are subject to enhanced validation
    checks. Several months in this time series have a variance of +/- 2 FTE.

  • Keith Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Keith Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people employed by HM Passport Office were specifically tasked with processing passport applications on 1 January, (a) 2011, (b) 2012, (c) 2013 and (d) 2014.

    James Brokenshire

    The table below shows the number of Her Majesty’s Passport Office full-time
    equivalents working within the passport operational Directorates.

    The formal record for workforce data is made on the last day of each calendar
    month. We have therefore provided the data as of 31 December of each year.

    (a) 2011: 2,360
    (b) 2012: 2,265
    (c) 2013: 2,457

    Due to the limitations of the HR management system used prior to December 2010,
    it is not possible to provide reliable management information below top level
    for any periods prior to that date.

  • Keith Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Keith Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were employed by HM Passport Office on 1 January (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and (e) 2014.

    James Brokenshire

    The formal record for workforce data is made on the last day of each calendar
    month.

    The data as of 31 December in each year were as follows.

    31 December 2010: 3,700 full-time equivalents
    31 December 2011: 3,286 full-time equivalents
    31 December 2012: 3,164 full-time equivalents
    31 December 2013: 3,333 full-time equivalents

    These figures are for permanent civil servants employed by HMPO, including part
    year appointments and permanent members of staff employed on contracts for nine
    months of the year. This excludes staff on secondment or loan, and agency and
    temporary staff – with these staff included, the March 2014 figure is 3,444.

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what compensation the Passport Office provides to British passport holders who have faced increases on the cost of their flights because they have had to wait an extended period for a completed passport application.

    James Brokenshire

    HM Passport Office’s policy on compensation can be downloaded from the website
    at:
    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/compensation-and-complaints-handling

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the policy is of the Passport Office on the passing of information on the status of a delayed passport application when dealing with correspondence from an hon. Member acting on behalf of a constituent.

    James Brokenshire

    Her Majesty’s Passport Office’s policy is to make available the same
    information to MPs and their constituency secretaries as they would
    to their constituents. On receipt of correspondence on behalf of a constituent, it
    is deemed that the constituent has provided authority for their MP to act on
    their behalf. This applies to written, e-mailed and telephone correspondence.

  • Meg Hillier – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Meg Hillier – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of (a) new passport applications and (b) passport renewal applications were received by HM Passport Office in each week since 6 January 2014; and what proportion of those applications (i) were completed in three weeks, (ii) were completed in four weeks and (iii) remain outstanding for each of these weeks.

    James Brokenshire

    Table 1 sets out the volume of new and renewal passports on a weekly basis since 5 January 2014.

    Table 2 provides the proportion of straightforward cases dealt with within three weeks , four weeks and over four weeks. The information is not available by breakdown of application type.

  • David Simpson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Simpson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that convictions are brought for possession of large quantities of illegal drugs.

    Norman Baker

    Action to restrict drug supply, including the investigation of drug offences and enabling the prosecution of those responsible, is a priority for law enforcement and other regulatory agencies. It is important that the courts are able to consider all the circumstances of any offence and offender which is why law enforcement agencies work closely with their prosecutors to provide the courts with the best evidence of an offence, presented in the most effective way.

    In addition to prosecution, law enforcement agencies and the Criminal Justice System in the UK have at their discretion a number of disposals available to deal with drug-related offenders, including referral for drug treatment. This ensures that a robust and proportionate enforcement approach can be taken, which gives due regard to the public interest.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If she will ensure that all asylum interviews are routinely audio and video recorded.

    Karen Bradley

    The Home Office is required to allow claimants, with some exceptions, to have their asylum interviews electronically recorded on request. The request to record the interview is at the discretion of the claimant. The invitation to interview letter advises eligible claimants to inform the asylum office if they wish the interview to be recorded, and to provide a minimum of 24 hours notice of their request to avoid a delay on the day. For those in detention, at least three days notice must be provided. We recognise that digitally recording asylum interviews has the potential to bring benefits to both asylum seekers and to the Home Office and we are currently exploring this as an option for the future.