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.
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.