Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many buildings her Department sold in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and (e) 2014.
Answered by Karen Bradley
Two Home Office owned buildings were sold in 2010 and one in 2013. Contracts have been exchanged in 2014 for the sale of two sites, one subject to grant of satisfactory planning consent, and both for completion in 2015.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner by-election held on 21 August 2014.
Answered by Mike Penning
The cost of the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) by-election on 21 August has been estimated to be £3.7 million. These costs are
underwritten by the Home Office and will not come from funds that would otherwise have gone to police forces.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, under what timetable her Department plans to phase-out the use of telephone lines with the prefix (a) 0845, 0844 and 0843 in accordance with the Cabinet Office guidance on customer service lines published in December 2013 and (b) 03 and 08, where 03 is the primary number under a dual numbering system.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The use of telephone lines with the prefix 0843, 0844 and 0845 will be phased out in accordance with the Cabinet Office guidance on customer service lines both where these have been the primary number or have been temporarily retained as secondary number behind a new 03 number.
The Home Office and Her Majesty's Passport Office operates no 0843/0844 numbers.
The Home Office's 0845 Nationality Contact / European Enquiry Line and Asylum support line has been migrated to 0300 prefix in March 2014. The original 0845 number will be fully decommissioned by 31 December 2014.
Her Majesty's Passport Office 0845 number for Customer letters migrated to 0300 prefix on 1 September 2014. The original 0845 number will be fully decommissioned by 31 December 2014.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many telephone lines with the prefix (a) 0845, (b) 0844 and (c) 0843 her Department (i) operates and (ii) sponsors; how many calls each such number has received in the last 12 months; and whether alternative numbers charged at BT local rates are available in each such case.
Answered by Karen Bradley
Please see the table below detailing the use and purpose of non geographic
numbers, 0843, 0844 and 0845. These figures are taken directly from BT's call
reporting system.
Home Office
Prefix | Number of lines / service | Inbound calls in last 12 months* | Alternative BT Local Rate No? |
0843 | 0 | N/A | No |
0844 | 0 | N/A | No |
0845 | Nationality Contact Centre / European Enquiry Line | 362,582 | Migrated to 0300 March 2014 |
Asylum Support Line | 46,294 | Migrated to 0300 March 2014 | |
MPs Enquiry Line | 18,441 | No |
*Note:on 7 March 2014 the Nationality Contact Centre/European Enquiry Line and the Asylum Support Line both migrated from 0845 to the 0300 prefix with calls charged the same as calls to 01/02. The above volumes for those lines therefore are from June 2013 to March 2014
HM Passport Office
Prefix | Number of lines / service | Inbound calls in last 12 months | Alternative BT Local Rate No? |
0843 | 0 | N/A | No |
0844 | 0 | N/A | No |
0845 | Customer Letters | 325,452 | 0300 number available |
Passport verification services (PVS) (a Business to Business Service) | 50,644 | No |