Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what forecast they have made of the expected number of individuals crossing the English Channel by small boat to the UK each month in (1) 2023, and (2) 2024.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office has modelled various scenarios which inform planning on how to handle small boats and ensure the system is resilient. However, these are planning scenarios, not forecasts or predictions, and there are no plans to publish them. In 2022, over 45,000 people arrived in the UK as a result of these crossings.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what forecast they have made of the number of potential migrants who will be prevented from reaching the UK as a result of the terms and provisions of the UK–France Joint Statement of 14 November 2022.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The department does not publish modelling of small boats controls.
The Joint Statement deepens the UK's partnership with France and is an important step to deter dangerous journeys across the Channel and break the business model of people smugglers. In 2022, our joint activity with the French saw nearly 33,000 of these dangerous, illegal and unnecessary crossings prevented.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the annual surplus received from immigration application fees in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, and (3) 2021, after deducting administration costs.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office does not publish the information sought to the level of granularity required. Information on revenue or costs relating to citizenship applications is not published, nor is any surplus derived from citizenship applications routinely calculated or published.
The Home Office does report information on overall visa and immigration income in the Annual Report and Accounts.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the annual surplus received from citizenship applications in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, and (3) 2021, after deducting administration costs.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office does not publish the information sought to the level of granularity required. Information on revenue or costs relating to citizenship applications is not published, nor is any surplus derived from citizenship applications routinely calculated or published.
The Home Office does report information on overall visa and immigration income in the Annual Report and Accounts.
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.