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Written Question
Immigration: Appeals
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many allowed appeals from (a) First and (b) Upper Tribunal are awaiting implementation; and what the average time taken to implement allowed appeal decisions was in each year between 2019 and 2023.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The requested information cannot be accurately extracted from our internal systems. To provide this information would require a manual trawl of successful appeals and to do so would incur disproportionate cost.

Where an appeal has been allowed in favour of the appellant, and is not subject to onward appeal, we take all reasonable steps to implement the allowed appeal in a timely manner.


Written Question
Home Office: Innovation
Wednesday 14th June 2023

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many officials her Department employs to work directly on public service innovation.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Innovation is at the heart of our vision for a modern civil service, in particular finding new ways to solve problems and improve people’s lives, and seizing the full potential of data and technology.

All officials are expected to contribute to public service innovation, whether through the policy they develop or in the services they deliver. This work can range from supporting continuous improvement to leading more radical transformation.

The Home Office does not hold the data requested in a reportable format.


Written Question
Naturalisation: Applications
Monday 15th May 2023

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the (a) median and (b) mean processing times for (i) registration and (ii) naturalisation applications in each year from 2017 to 2022.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Home Office publishes data on naturalisation and registration applications made and completed every quarter on the Gov.UK website. This includes performance against the six-month service standard for completing applications. The most recent data set was published on 23 February 2023 and can be found here:

Visas and citizenship data: Q4 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Written Question
Visas: Fees And Charges
Monday 24th April 2023

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the affordability of the cost of visas.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Home Office keeps fees for immigration and nationality applications under review. Where we make fee changes in legislation, an Impact Assessment is published.

The Home Office provides fee waivers in a number of circumstances. This includes a waiver for those making Article 8 claims, based on Family and Private life, who are unable to afford the fee or where payment of the fee would leave them unable to meet the needs of a child who is dependent upon them.


Written Question

Question Link

Friday 1st July 2022

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many ECAA applicants awaiting a decision have been waiting for longer than the standard service provision as of 23 June 2022.

Answered by Kevin Foster

This information requested is routinely published as part of UKVI Transparency data.

The most recent published data for outstanding ECCA applications can be found here: Visas and Citizenship data: Q1 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Under Visas and Citizenship Data, Tab VC_02 includes the number of straightforward applications and non-straightforward applications which remained outstanding at the end of the last reported period.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Monday 27th June 2022

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she will respond to the correspondences from the hon. Member for Bristol North West on Wednesday 18 May 2022.

Answered by Kevin Foster

The Minister for Safe and Legal Migration responded on 27th June 2022


Written Question
Passports: Applications
Thursday 16th June 2022

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, at what point of the application process her Department informs applicants who are paying for super priority and priority applications of the level of service provision they can expect.

Answered by Kevin Foster

The timescales for priority (PV) and super priority (SPV) applications are set out on GOV.UK so the information is available to the customer before starting the application process.

PV information is also covered on the waiting times page and includes a message that PV/SPV is temporarily unavailable for some routes.


Written Question
Visas: Applications
Wednesday 15th June 2022

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department's working definitions are of the level of service provision for a (a) super priority, (b) priority and (c) standard service visa application.

Answered by Kevin Foster

Answer UKVI’s definitions for super priority, priority, and standard visa services are as below: Out of Country Applications Super Priority – applies to both in and out of country applications UKVI will aim to make a decision by the end of the next working day after your appointment at the visa application centre to provide your biometrics. Priority – applies to both in and out of country applications UKVI will aim to make a decision within 5 working days of your appointment at the visa application centre to provide your biometrics. Standard UKVI will aim to make a decision within 3 weeks of your appointment at the visa application centre to provide your biometrics. Settlement Priority – applies to both in and out of country applications UKVI will aim to make a decision within 6 weeks of your appointment at the visa application centre to provide your biometrics. Settlement Standard UKVI will aim to make a decision within 24 weeks of your appointment at the visa application centre to provide your biometrics. Further information is published at Visa decision waiting times: applications outside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) In Country Applications Switch/Extend a Student, Family, Ancestry, Work, Visitor, or Graduate Visa UKVI will aim to make a decision within 8 weeks of your appointment at the visa application centre to provide your biometrics. Switch/Extend a Hong Kong British National (Overseas) Visa UKVI will aim to make a decision within 12 weeks of your appointment at the visa application centre to provide your biometrics. Applying for Settlement You should usually get a decision on your visa within 6 months once you apply online. Further information is published at Visa decision waiting times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Written Question
Refugees: Ukraine
Wednesday 27th April 2022

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what financial support is available to individuals who are supporting refugees entering the UK via the Ukraine Family Visa scheme.

Answered by Kevin Foster

There is no specific financial support available to those who choose to sponsor family members to join them in the UK. This includes those sponsoring under the Ukraine Family Scheme.

However, Ukrainian nationals coming to the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme are given access to work, benefits and public services as laid down in Appendix Ukraine to the Immigration Rules, details of which can be found at:

Immigration Rules Appendix Ukraine Scheme - Immigration Rules - Guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).


Written Question
Criminal Investigation: Children
Tuesday 25th January 2022

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance has been issued on the use of release under investigation for minors; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of its use in cases where suspects are minors.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

Release Under Investigation (RUI) is a non-legislative police process. The National Police Chiefs’ Council issued guidance on RUI in January 2019.

In tandem with wider changes to pre-charge bail included in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, the College of Policing will, for the first time, issue statutory guidance, including specific consideration of minors and how RUI should be used. This work is being undertaken with key stakeholders from the youth justice system.