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Written Question
Teleperformance: Complaints
Wednesday 21st February 2024

Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many complaints they have received about Teleperformance overseas helplines, and what compensation has been awarded to customers, in each month since 2022.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The number of complaints made to the UKVI international helpline, managed by Teleperformance, are found in the table below.

We do not hold the data relating to how much compensation has been issued in relation to contact made to the UKVI Contact Centre, as this is held by Teleperformance.

Teleperformance collect call and email charges on behalf of UKVI. Where any refunds are to be issued in relation to complaints made against the services, it is appropriate for Teleperformance to manage these refund transactions.


Written Question
Undocumented Migrants
Wednesday 21st February 2024

Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the current number of individuals who are in the United Kingdom illegally.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

By its very nature, it is not possible to know the exact size of the illegal population, or the number of people who arrive illegally, and so we do not seek to make any official estimates of the illegal population. In June 2019, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published a note on ‘measuring illegal migration’.

The Home Office does publish statistics on irregular arrivals to the UK as part of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK’ quarterly statistics release on gov.uk. However, this does not indicate the number of irregular migrants currently in the UK.


Written Question
Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration
Wednesday 21st February 2024

Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government when all Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration reports submitted to the Home Office will be published.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The department takes every inspection report seriously and considers the findings and recommendations carefully. This can sometimes mean the publication process is longer than expected. We will publish the reports in due course.


Written Question
HM Passport Office: Cybersecurity
Tuesday 20th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many data breaches have been reported by HM Passport Office's security team since 2020.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Between 1 January 2020 and 6 February 2024, His Majesty’s Passport Office reported 15,218 data breaches across passport and certificate services, which includes those resulting from a partner delivery error.

This figure is approximately 0.05% of the applications and orders handled by HM Passport Office and the General Register Office within the same period.


Written Question
Immigration: Enforcement
Tuesday 20th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many community events have Immigration Enforcement's National Community Engagement Team annually (1) held, and (2) hosted; and what were the annual costs of these events.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The National Community Engagement Team have held and hosted two community events, both in this financial year. The annual costs for these are £20,707, which includes £3,451 VAT.


Written Question
Independent Examiner of Complaints: Annual Reports
Tuesday 20th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Home Office's Independent Examiner of Complaints service, and whether the Office of the Independent Examiner of Complaints will publish annual reports.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Independent Examiner of Complaints (IEC) is operating within its terms of reference. The Memorandum of Understanding between the Home Office and the IEC states that the IEC will publish an annual report.


Written Question
Borders: Digital Technology
Tuesday 20th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government when the Digital Services at the Border programme will be completed, and what estimate they have made of its total cost.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

DSAB will complete in spring this year. The cost of bringing all the world leading, security features that it delivers will have been £177m since the programme reset in 2020.


Written Question
British Nationality: Assessments
Tuesday 20th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many unannounced inspections of Life in the UK test centres have taken place each month since November 2022; whether any test centres have been closed since November 2022; and, if so, for what reason.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The information requested is not held in a reportable format.


Written Question
Asylum: Rwanda
Wednesday 27th September 2023

Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many Rwandans have (1) applied for asylum, and (2) been granted asylum, in each year since 2010.

Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth

The Home Office publishes data on asylum applications and initial decisions, by nationality and year, in the Immigration System Statistics quarterly release on gov.uk. These statistics are published in tables Asy_D01 and Asy_D02 of the asylum & resettlement detailed datasets which can be downloaded via the table attached.

The latest data relates to the end of June 2023.


Written Question
Migrant Workers: Visas
Tuesday 26th September 2023

Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what caps are in place for work-related visas, and how they are enforced.

Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth

The UK’s Points Based system Skilled Worker and Temporary Worker routes are not capped, with the exception of the Seasonal Worker route which is specifically designed to support the UK horticulture sector. A sector in which growers typically require higher volumes of labour, for relatively short-term periods of time, in line with seasonal production peaks.

The Seasonal Worker route currently has 45,000 visas available. A further 10,000 places will be released if there is sufficient evidence of need, and contingent with improvements in worker welfare. A separate quota of 2,000 places is also available to support the poultry sector in the run up to Christmas. These allocations are divided amongst the licenced Scheme Operators, in line with published policy, and are managed via the Home Office’s Sponsor Management System.