Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the number of free points for biometrics was per 10,000 visa applications for 2018 against the projected number of free points for biometrics per 10,000 visa applications in 2020 on current projections of visa applications.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The specific information requested is not available.
We offer free points for biometric submission (photo and fingerprints) in the UK through the UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service (UKVCAS) or overseas through Visa Application Centres (VACs).
In the UK, prior to UKVCAS customers were able to submit their biometrics in over 100 Post Office locations. Since the rollout of UKVCAS in November 2018 customers have been able to submit their biometrics and supporting evidence simultaneously through UKVCAS service points which are run by Sopra Steria (SSL) on behalf of UKVI.
There are currently six core sites across the UK at which application submission services are offered for no additional charge on top of that already paid to UKVI and beyond that, a range of enhanced services in a further 50 locations. The UKVCAS core service points offer appointments up to 35 days in advance and free appointments are available Monday to Friday between 10:00 and 16:00. Any appointments outside these times, and those at enhanced service points, are subject to additional charges.
Overseas, in 99 Visa Application Centres (VACs) across 57 countries, VFS Global and TLS Connect offer customers application submission services for no additional charge on top of the visa application fee.
In 149 locations across 105 countries, customers have the option of attending a premium only centre or submitting their biometrics through a User Pay VAC, all of which incur an additional fee. Both commercial partners allow customers to book appointments within a four week rolling window and appointments outside of core hours are subject to additional charges.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many penalties have been issued to Sopra Steria for contract non-compliance; and what the cost is of those penalties.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The information is available from Contract Finder at (Full contract) https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/ec5031ea-021e-471a-86cf-af540e8d8efa and specifically Service levels and Performance Indicators at Schedule 7 of the contract.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what contingency plans he has for the repatriation of UK defendants from the EU in the event the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement and is therefore no longer party to the European Arrest Warrant procedure.
Answered by Nick Hurd
In a No Deal scenario and the absence of access to the European Arrest Warrant, the UK will operate the European Convention on Extradition with EU Member States.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the prevalence of verbal and physical harassment of non-UK EU citizens in the UK.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Data on the nationality of victims of crime is not centrally collected by the Home Office. However, police forces are free to collect this information locally.
The police may treat verbal and physical harassment of non-UK EU citizens as racially-motivated hate crimes. The Government has a robust response to all forms of hate crime. This includes a range of relevant legislation, and the Hate Crime Action Plan 2016-20. The Action Plan includes a number of commitments organised under the themes of preventing hate crime, tackling hate crime, increasing reporting, supporting victims and increasing our understanding of hate crime.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary for of State for the Home Department, what information he holds on the number of people who used the National Domestic Violence helpline in the last 12 months.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The National Domestic Violence Helpline provides a vital line of support for victims and survivors of domestic abuse, their friends and families and supporting professionals. The 24-hour helpline is available 365 days a year to provide immediate and crisis support.
The most recent figures published show that to the year ending March 2018 94,549 calls were made to the helpline.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what comparative estimate he has made the proportion of non-UK EU citizens who have applied to the settled status scheme in (a) Wales and (b) the UK.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The third official statistics – ‘EU Settlement Scheme Statistics, June 2019’ – on the operation of the scheme were published on 18 July 2019, including applications received in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/eu-settlement-scheme-statistics-june-2019
The Home Office is committed to publishing more detailed quarterly statistics on the EU Settlement Scheme, alongside our Immigration Statistics, from August 2019. Home Office statisticians and officials are currently considering the content and will take into account the views of statistics users.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children applied for asylum in 2018 whose age was disputed.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office publishes data on the number of age disputes raised for main applicants who claim to be children are available, broken down by nationality for each quarter, in table as_10_q (Asylum, volume 3).
The latest edition which includes data for 2018 is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2019/list-of-tables.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many contracts his Department has awarded to Serco since July 2013; and what the value is of those contracts.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Since July 2013, the Home Office has awarded 3 contracts to Serco, with a total contract value of £2.2bn.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many locations in Wales provided UK Visas and Immigration biometric services in (a) 2016 and (b) 2019.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
In 2016, there were four locations in Wales providing UK Visa and Immigration biometric services. These were branches of Post Office Limited, in Aberystwyth, Cardiff, Llandudno and Port Talbot.
We are transitioning to new arrangements for biometric capture and so there are currently seven locations in Wales providing UK Visa and Immigration biometric services.
These consist of:
• two Post Office Limited branches (Llandudno and Port Talbot);
• four locations run by our commercial partner Sopra Steria under the name of UK Visa and Citizenship Application Centres (one free to use (Cardiff) and three enhanced and fee-paid centres (Llandudno, Newport and Cardiff Bay); and
• one UKVI office known as a “Service and Support Centre” (Cardiff).
The two Post Offices are scheduled to stop offering this service in the coming weeks as the contract between Post Office and UKVI will end.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of trends in the availability of appointments at UK Visa and Immigration biometric services in each year from 2016 to 2019.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
It is not possible to assess trends in availability of appointments at UK Visa and Immigration biometric services in each year from 2016 to 2019. In 2016, applicants to UKVI did not make an appointment to provide biometrics to UK Visas and Immigration. UKVI sent a letter to customers which asked them to attend a branch of Post Office Limited at a convenient time, within 7 working days.
From November 2018, the UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service (UKVCAS) was launched. This new service requires applicants to make an appointment. Appointments are available for free in 6 major cities, and there are an additional 56 local user-pay service centres located in libraries, and 1 premium lounge.
In March 2019, the Service and Support Centres (SSCs) began capturing biometrics, again requiring an appointment to be made. There are seven SSCs located in major cities in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.