Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much passport fee income has been received each month since January 2021; and how this income has been spent.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Passport fees are set in line with HM Treasury guidance Managing Public Money to only recover the costs associated with British passport services as provided by for the Immigration Act 2016. This includes costs relating to the processing of passport applications, overseas consular protection, and for processing British nationals at UK borders.
The table below provides a monthly breakdown of the income received from January 2021.
Month | Income |
Jan-21 | £29,780,000 |
Feb-21 | £21,580,000 |
Mar-21 | £33,980,000 |
Apr-21 | £28,510,000 |
May-21 | £29.580,000 |
Jun-21 | £36,930,000 |
Jul-21 | £25,350,000 |
Aug-21 | £28,810,000 |
Sep-21 | £37,480,000 |
Oct-21 | £38,320,000 |
Nov-21 | £44,580,000 |
Dec-21 | £36,670,000 |
Jan-22 | £33,280,000 |
Feb-22 | £56,480,000 |
Mar-22 | £74,320,000 |
Apr-22 | £76,130,000 |
May-22 | £74,740,000 |
Jun-22 | £69,690,000 |
Jul-22 | £53,660,000 |
Aug-22 | £52,140,000 |
Sep-22 | £46,600,000 |
Oct-22 | £43,140,000 |
Nov-22 | £40,100,000 |
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the fee for citizenship applications; and what is the administrative cost of processing such applications.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The fee for an application to naturalise as a British citizen is £1,250 and the unit cost of processing the application is estimated to be £416.
The fee for Nationality registration as a British citizen for an adult is £1,126 and the unit cost of processing the application is estimated to be £416.
The fee for Nationality registration as a British citizen for a child is £1,012 and the unit cost of processing the application is estimated to be £416.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the UK–France joint statement: enhancing co-operation against illegal migration, published on 14 November, how many border agents or other UK immigration officials will be based in France by the end of 2022; and what role will the National Crime Agency play under the terms of the Joint Statement.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The number of UK officials based in France will vary each day, but will include staff operating across a range of border management, law enforcement, and intelligence functions, as well as immigration functions at the juxtaposed controls.
The UK-France Joint Statement published on 14 November set out the new Joint Strategic Objectives and Joint Operational plan for both countries to tackle illegal migration. As part of this arrangement, reciprocal teams of embedded officers will be deployed for the first time in France. UK officers have already begun their operational training and further visits will take place in the next few weeks including UK officers observing French patrols. Specific details of locations and numbers are, of course, operationally sensitive.
The NCA continues to play a key role in UK-France operational co-operation through the Joint Intelligence Cell which will be further expanded, as agreed within the Joint Statement on 14 November. The Joint Intelligence Cell has been central in the dismantling of 59 organised criminal groups and supporting over 500 arrests.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals are currently waiting more than 48 hours for delivery of their Biometric Residence Permit.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The waiting times for biometric residence permits (BRP) are dictated by the BRP production and delivery processes.
We aim to deliver a BRP within 7 working days of the immigration decision. BRPs are produced at the secure delivery facility (Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA)) within 48 hours of the production request being made and are collected by our secure delivery partner the same day. Our secure delivery partner (FedEx) aims to attempt to deliver the BRPs within 48 hours of receipt of the BRPs. This equates to a minimum of 5 working days from date of production request being made to delivery of the BRP. We have added an additional 2 working days to the timeline advised to applicants to allow us to resolve any production issues.
In October, November & December, DVLA produced all BRPs within 48 hours of the production request, with 100% of all cards being produced within 24 hours.
In October, November & December FedEx attempted to deliver 99.83% of BRPs within 48 hours.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the UK–France joint statement: enhancing co-operation against illegal migration, published on 14 November, how many unsuccessful asylum seekers are expected to be removed from the UK.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The UK-France Joint Statement published on 14 November set out the new Joint Strategic Objectives and Joint Operational plan for both countries to tackle illegal migration. This includes measures to prevent and deter illegal crossing attempts with investment in removal centres in France to support voluntary returns to countries of origin.
We do not provide pre-emptive figures for the number of unsuccessful asylum seekers who are expected to be removed from the UK.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the UK–France joint statement: enhancing co-operation against illegal migration, published on 14 November, when the full details will be published.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
There are no plans to publish further details to the recently announced 2022/23 UK-France joint statement.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what has been the cost of legal advice received in relation to the management of Manston migrant centre.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The costs of advice cannot be accurately calculated as the majority of advice has been provided by Home Office departmental lawyers as part of their advisory role.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of recognising regional languages in the immigration system, including of protected minority groups.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Language skills are an important part of integration for those coming to work, study or settle in the UK. We keep the language requirements set out in the immigration rules under regular review.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Home Office immigration decisions were made in (1) 2017/18, (2) 2018/19, (3) 2019/20, (4) 2020/21, and (5) 2021/22; and how many such decisions were overturned on appeal in each of those years.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office publishes a range of data related to immigration in the Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release. Attached is the most recent publication of data for asylum and resettlement.
Data on appeal outcomes is published by HM Courts and Tribunals Service.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many requests for reimbursement have been received by HM Passport Office since 2010; and how much has been paid out annually since that year.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
It is HM Passport Office's policy to reimburse any reasonable out of pocket expenses as a result of its error or to refund where no processing costs have been incurred.
The table below shows the total amount of reimbursements by HM Passport Office to its customers in each financial year from 2017/18 which includes refunds for cancelled appointments or where fees have been taken in error or duplicated.
Year | Total reimbursement paid to customers |
2017/2018 | £1,191,918.64 |
2018/2019 | £1,624,641.40 |
2019/2020 | £1,104,321.74 |
2020/2021 | £364,254.15 |
2021/2022 | £2,175,767.44 |
2022/2023 (to 30 November 2022) | £3,139,740.50 |
Data relating to the number of requests for reimbursement, or the total reimbursements paid in each financial year prior to 2017/18, is not held in a reportable format.