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  • Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what reports she has received from the Metropolitan Police in the Royal Borough of Greenwich of delays in processing Disclosure and Barring Service applications.

    Karen Bradley

    The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) provides a formal monthly performance report to the Home Office and Home Office Ministers. This includes updates on the performance of police forces in meeting the Service Level Agreement (SLA) standards for the time taken to complete local disclosure checks.

    The DBS monitors the performance of all police disclosure units and works closely with any force, including the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) which is having difficulty in meeting its targets. An MPS Gold Group is overseeing the recovery plan in place at the MPS. London Boroughs do not operate their own disclosure units.

    The number of applications to the Disclosure and Barring Service from people living in Greenwich and Woolwich constituency that have taken more than 60 days to process in each of the last 12 months is listed in the table below.

    Month

    Total Disclosures Issued to Applicants from the Constituency of Greenwich and Woolwich

    Disclosures that took longer than 60 days

    February 2015 – January 2016

    11,446

    1,688
  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the correction of 9 February 2016 to Question 13206, what the cause was of the error in information on former unaccompanied minors removed between 2007 and 31 December 2015; and what steps she is taking to ensure that correct information is collected and published in future.

    James Brokenshire

    The mistake given in the original response to Question 13206 resulted from two errors in the query for extracting information from the relevant database. One error involved the use of an incorrect definition which excluded former unaccompanied asylum seeking children who now had linked dependants. The other was an error in the computer code which extracted the data. In this instance, the code for the query was mistyped and so the data returned was incorrect. These errors have now been resolved and a correction issued. Such mistakes are rare and when they occur they are taken very seriously.

    It is regrettable that human error caused the original response to this Parliamentary Question to be incorrect and improvements have been put in place. The appropriate definition has been reviewed and confirmed. This definition, and the correct approach on careful coding, have been made clear to the officials involved. We are reviewing other Parliamentary Answers about unaccompanied asylum seeking children to see if these were affected by similar issues. While these respond to different specific questions, we wish to review the methodology used thoroughly. We are also reviewing whether additional processes are needed for Parliamentary Questions that require complex data queries.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied child refugees in Europe the Government expects to relocate in 2016.

    James Brokenshire

    My Written Ministerial Statement of 28 January set out the government’s plans to reinforce its response to refugee unaccompanied children from Syria, other conflict regions and within Europe. That included a commitment to work with partners, including the European Asylum Support Office, to help identify and support unaccompanied children on arrival in the EU. The government has also created a new fund of up to £10 million to support the needs of vulnerable migrant children in Europe.

    If an unaccompanied child claims asylum in a European country participating in the Dublin Regulation we will consider requests to take responsibility where there are close family members legally present in the UK. Unaccompanied minors already in Europe may also apply for family reunion under the Immigration Rules.

    We have asked the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to advise us on what more we can do to assist unaccompanied refugee children fleeing conflict and persecution in the Syrian region and more broadly across the globe. The number the UK will resettle will be dependent on the UNHCR’s assessment and whether it is in the child’s best interests and our capacity to absorb them.

  • Fiona Mactaggart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Fiona Mactaggart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Mactaggart on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she expects to publish the results of her Department’s assessment of exit checks data; and if she will make a statement.

    Karen Bradley

    I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the answer I gave the Hon Member for Morley and Outwood (Andrea Jenkyns) on 17 December 2015 to Question UIN: 19792.

  • Ian C. Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ian C. Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when a final decision was made to close 15 HM Passport Office interview offices; and what discussions her Department has had with staff representatives on those closures.

    Karen Bradley

    The decision regarding the changes to the passport application interview estate was taken on 21 December 2015.

    Affected staff, and their trade union representatives, were informed of this decision on 28 January 2016. This launched a formal period of consultation about the impact upon staff following the changes to the passport application interview estate. This consultation is ongoing.

  • Ian C. Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ian C. Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to release the full business case for the recently-announced closure of 15 HM Passport Office interview offices.

    Karen Bradley

    There are no plans to release the business case for this decision.

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she expects the Maritime Priority Assessment Tool to be fully implemented.

    Karen Bradley

    The Maritime Priority Assessment Tool was rolled out nationally on 29 December 2015.

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many general aviation flights were (a) attended and (b) cleared remotely by the Border Force in each of the last five years.

    James Brokenshire

    Border Force does not have the requested data prior to 2012/13. Since then we have made improvements to our command and control of general aviation, including our national statistical reporting, and are able to provide full details from 2013 onwards.

    During 2013/14 Border Force a) attended 27,299 flights and remotely cleared 18,885 flights

    During 2014/15 Border Force a) attended 27,033 flights and remotely cleared 32,042

    The figures quoted are management information, subject to internal quality checks and may be subject to change.

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many flights were attended by the Border Force beyond the primary control points in each of the last five years.

    James Brokenshire

    Border Force does not have the requested data prior to 2012/13. Since then we have made improvements to our command and control of general aviation, including our national statistical reporting, and are able to provide full details from 2013 onwards.

    During 2013/14 Border Force a) attended 27,299 flights and remotely cleared 18,885 flights

    During 2014/15 Border Force a) attended 27,033 flights and remotely cleared 32,042

    The figures quoted are management information, subject to internal quality checks and may be subject to change.

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many undeclared passengers were identified by the Border Force in each of the last five years.

    James Brokenshire

    For the purpose of this question Border Force have assumed that ‘undeclared passenger’ means any passenger travelling in any mode of transport whose movement has not been notified in the prescribed manner.

    Border Force does not collate records of ‘undeclared passengers’. But it works closely with aircraft operators, pilots and others to maximise the provision of Advance Passenger Information in all modes.