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 - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
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.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the total budget for the Passport Office (a) was in financial year 2021-22 and (b) is in financial year 2022-23.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The annual budget of the Passport Office is published every year as part of Customer Services Capability within the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts.
For financial year 2021-22, refer to pages 128-129, published as part of the Statement of Outturn against Parliamentary Supply (SOPS), in the 2021-22 Home Office Annual Report and Accounts. See:
Home_Office_ARA_21-22_Final_-_Gov.uk.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)
With regards to the 2022-23 budget, you can find the information required in the published Main Supply Estimates. Refer to page 84 (page 87 on the PDF reader). See:
Central Government Supply Estimates 2022-23 – Main Supply Estimates (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the yearly change was in numbers of staff working in the Passport Office from (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-2017, (c) 2017-18, (d) 2018-2019, (e) 2019-2020, (f) 2020-21 and (g) 2021-22.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The table below shows the data held for full-time equivalent staffing numbers at His Majesty’s Passport Office on 31 March, for each year from 2015:
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
4,376 | 4,059 | 3,879 | 3,680 | 3,620 | 3,947 | 3,704 | 4,466 |
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 handled by the Passport Office have been lost in the post in each year since 2019.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The data is not held in the requested format.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications of situations where HM Passport Office has lost supporting documents for first-time adult British passport applications, withdrawn these applications and asked the applicant to bear the costs of resubmitting a new application and applying for new supporting documents; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
While the loss of documents by HM Passport Office is rare, any losses are taken extremely seriously.
It is HM Passport Office's policy to reimburse any reasonable out of pocket expenses as a result of any error, which includes the replacement of lost documents. Where it has been determined that a passport application has been withdrawn in error, the customer will be invited to submit a replacement application at no further cost.