Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to ensure that delays in Disclosure and Barring Service checks by (a) the Metropolitan Police and (b) other constabularies are minimised.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The DBS is reliant on the police completing their checks in a timely manner. To support this, service level agreements are in place between the DBS and each police force. These include a requirement for forces to complete 100% of local checks within 60 days.
There are a small number of forces, including the Metropolitan Police Service, experiencing difficulties in dealing with the volume of applications that have been referred to them. If police force performance falls below the standard agreed with the DBS, the DBS will work with the force concerned including, where appropriate, implementing a recovery plan.
The DBS is working closely with the MPS to address its performance issues. An MPS Gold Group is overseeing the recovery plan and exploring all opportunities to process cases quickly. Measures include increasing recruitment, introducing an evening team to improve resilience, and prioritising and escalating cases where possible. All police disclosure units, including that of the MPS, are funded by the DBS which agrees a budget for each police force annually based on the expected numbers of local checks.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans the Disclosure and Barring Service has to protect vulnerable groups from exposure to unchecked employees and unregistered employers.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The responsibility for protecting vulnerable groups in the workplace lies with employers. The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) provides access to criminal records and other relevant information held by the police to assist employers in considering suitability to work with children or vulnerable adults. It also maintains lists of those who are barred from work with either or both those groups.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Disclosure and Barring Service checks were carried out in (a) the UK, (b) Lancashire and (c) Ribble Valley constituency in the last 12 months.
Answered by Karen Bradley
Between 1 October 2014 and 30 September 2015, the Disclosure and Barring Service issued 4,209,742 disclosures. Of these, 102,252 were received from individuals living in Lancashire. The DBS does not hold information to show the number of certificates by constituency.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much a UK tourist visa costs a Chinese national.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The cost of visas for the UK are published annually in April in a document called Home Office Immigration and Nationality fees. Currently, visit visas for the UK cost £83 for a visit visa valid for 6 months, £300 for a visit visa valid for 2 years, £544 for a visit visa valid for 5 years, and £737 for a visit visa valid for 10 years, irrespective of nationality.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward proposals to enable Chinese nationals to make a single application for a UK and a Schengen visa.
Answered by James Brokenshire
We have on 30 June rolled out an online system enabling applicants in China simultaneously to complete a UK and Schengen Visa application form. Talk are ongoing with European partners about further streamlining visa processes with Schengen zone countries to make trips to the UK even easier for Chinese visitors.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Chinese nationals visited the UK on tourist visas in (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Chinese Nationals can visit the UK using a number of visit visas including business, student and other. The number who visited the UK in the last 3 years using an ordinary visit visa, who are most likely to be tourists, is given in the table below:
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The Home Office publishes annual statistics on persons entering the UK as visitors by nationality in table ad_03_o (Admissions) within the ‘Immigration Statistics’ release. It is not possible to say how many of these visited for the purpose of tourism.
A copy of the latest release, ‘Immigration Statistics April - June 2014’ is available from the Library of the House and from https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of passport applications made in the last 12 months have been processed within (a) five, (b) 10 and (c) 15 working days.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Her Majesty's Passport Office sets out expected turnaround periods for the
handling of passport applications based on the type of application and the location from
which the application has been made. Straighforward applications are expected
to be dealt with within three weeks and non-straightforward applications within
six weeks. A minimum period is set out for dealing with overseas applications
on a country by country basis. Details of expected turnaround periods are set
out at www.GOV.UK.
In the period from June 2013 to May 2014, 44.9% of straightforward passport
applications were processed within 5 working days, 90.6% within 10 working days
and 99.2% within 15 working days.
In the same period, 24.3% of non straightforward passport applications were
processed within 5 working days, 59.8% within 10 working days and 79.6% within
15 working days.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what change there has been in police dog numbers in (a) Ribble Valley constituency, (b) Lancashire and (c) the UK in the last five years.
Answered by Damian Green
The Home Office does not hold this information centrally.