Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passports, by number rather than percentage, have been lost by the Passport Office in each year since 2018.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The data held for secure delivery services does not break down losses by passports only.
The table below shows the number and percentages of passports and supporting documents confirmed as lost in the possession of providers of secure delivery services for each year from 2018:
| UK | Overseas | ||||
Year | Passports Issued | Documents Lost | % of Documents Lost | Passports Issued | Documents Lost | % of Documents Lost |
2018 | 6,266,487 | 422 | 0.007% | 414,812 | 87 | 0.02% |
2019 | 6,152,384 | 168 | 0.003% | 555,116 | 103 | 0.02% |
2020 | 3,354,672 | 111 | 0.003% | 593,388 | 85 | 0.01% |
2021 | 4,391,043 | 485 | 0.011% | 432,441 | 157 | 0.04% |
2022 | 6,574,835 | 487** | 0.007% | 381,424 | 125*** | 0.03% |
* The data held does not distinguish between items confirmed as ‘lost’, and those that declared as ‘stolen’.
** Data currently held from 1 January to 30 September.
*** Data currently held from 1 January to 31 October.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been (a) deported or (b) referred for deportation after reporting domestic violence or abuse in each of the past ten years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes statistics on all types of removals from the UK. The latest statistics are available at:
Immigration statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
We do not routinely record allegations of domestic abuse except in cases where a victim makes an application for leave to remain on that basis. We would only record the allegation if the information was volunteered to us and was relevant to the person’s immigration status. Where we are informed of such allegations, they are not recorded in a form which can easily be reported. To provide the data requested would require examination of individual case files which could only be done at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with relevant stakeholders on the compatibility UK detention centres with international human rights law.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The safety and welfare of all those in our care is of the utmost importance and we accept nothing but the highest standards from those companies employed to provide detention and escorting services on our behalf.
Individuals detained in the immigration detention estate must be treated in accordance with the Detention Centre Rules 2001, the operating standards for IRCs and Detention Services Orders. Service providers for IRCs are contractually required to comply with all relevant UK legislation.
Immigration removal centres (IRC) suppliers are required to provide a safe and secure environment for detained individuals in their care and the conditions and facilities at all immigration detention facilities are kept under regular review.
IRCs are subject to statutory oversight by His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons and by Independent Monitoring Boards who are both members of the National Preventative Mechanism comprising a group of independent bodies which monitor the treatment of and conditions for detained individuals. This contributes to the UK’s response to its international obligations under the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT).
The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) visited the UK from 25 to 28 November 2022 and met the Minister for Immigration and senior officials. Their report is scheduled to be published in 2023.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of conditions in immigration detention centres in the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The safety and welfare of all those in our care is of the utmost importance and we accept nothing but the highest standards from those companies employed to provide detention and escorting services on our behalf.
Individuals detained in the immigration detention estate must be treated in accordance with the Detention Centre Rules 2001, the operating standards for IRCs and Detention Services Orders. Service providers for IRCs are contractually required to comply with all relevant UK legislation.
Immigration removal centres (IRC) suppliers are required to provide a safe and secure environment for detained individuals in their care and the conditions and facilities at all immigration detention facilities are kept under regular review.
IRCs are subject to statutory oversight by His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons and by Independent Monitoring Boards who are both members of the National Preventative Mechanism comprising a group of independent bodies which monitor the treatment of and conditions for detained individuals. This contributes to the UK’s response to its international obligations under the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT).
The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) visited the UK from 25 to 28 November 2022 and met the Minister for Immigration and senior officials. Their report is scheduled to be published in 2023.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passports were lost by the Passport Office in each year since 2018.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The data held for secure delivery services does not break down losses by passports only.
The table below shows the passports and supporting documents confirmed as lost in the possession of providers of secure delivery services as a percentage of applications received in each year from 2018:
| UK | Overseas |
Year | % of passports and supporting documents lost | % of passports and supporting documents lost* |
2018 | 0.006% | 0.020% |
2019 | 0.002% | 0.017% |
2020 | 0.002% | 0.013% |
2021 | 0.009% | 0.036% |
2022 | 0.006% ** | 0.030% *** |
* The data held does not distinguish between items confirmed as ‘lost’, and those that declared as ‘stolen’.
** Data currently held from 1 January to 30 September.
*** Data currently held from 1 January to 31 October.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many UKVI Visa applications have not been processed within the 3-week service standard since 1 January 2022; what proportion of UKVI Visa applications have not been processed within the 3-week service standard since 1 January 2022; what the average wait time for UKVI Visa applications is; and how many UKVI Visa application cases are outstanding past the 3-week service standard deadline.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Information relating to the processing times of visas can be found at the link below:
Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of Family Visa applications from outside the UK have not been processed within the 24-week standard processing time since January 1 2022; what is the current average wait time for these visa applications; and how many of these visa applications are currently outstanding past standard processing time deadline.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Numbers and proportions of Family Visa applications from outside the UK not processed within the 24-week standard processing times have not yet been published for this period. They will be published as part of transparency data in due course.
Average decision wait times or data on the number or proportion of family visa applications which have taken more than 24 weeks to process, do not form part of any current transparency data and are not published.
The transparency data does, however, include a range of processing data and the latest data can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the graduate visa route, introduced in 2021, remains his Department's policy objective.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Our offer to international students is extremely competitive and ensures that we continue to attract the best and brightest students from around the world.
The Government’s International Education Strategy set out a target of attracting 600,000 international Higher Education students to the UK by 2030, which we have achieved almost a decade early.
The public also rightly expects us to control immigration and ensure we have a system that works in the UK’s best interests.
As the Growth Plan set out, the Government is looking at how immigration contributes to growth and will set out further details in due course.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of capping the number of graduate visas on the UK’s economy.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Our offer to international students is extremely competitive and ensures that we continue to attract the best and brightest students from around the world.
The Government’s International Education Strategy set out a target of attracting 600,000 international Higher Education students to the UK by 2030, which we have achieved almost a decade early.
The public also rightly expects us to control immigration and ensure we have a system that works in the UK’s best interests.
As the Growth Plan set out, the Government is looking at how immigration contributes to growth and will set out further details in due course.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of using or procuring (a) Hikvision or (b) Dahua surveillance technologies.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
As has been the case under successive administrations, it is not government policy to comment on the security arrangements of government buildings. Specific details regarding the make and model of security systems procured and used by the Government are withheld on national security grounds.
The National Cyber Security Centre and the Centre for Protection of National Infrastructure provide guidance on the use of IP-connected cameras and cyber-connected physical security systems.