Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to (a) recruit more staff, (b) increase the responsiveness to MPs written and helpline enquiries and (c) put in place other resources to mitigate delays in processing visa and asylum applications.

(a) Staffing levels in the MP Account Management team have increased by 20% over the last 6 months and recruitment is continuing, with additional staff joining over the coming weeks.

(b) A recovery plan is in place which will lead to incremental improvements in service standards over the coming 5 months with a return to 20 day service standard by March 2023.

(c) The Home Office had been prioritising Ukraine Visa Schemes applications in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Staff from other government departments, including DWP and HMRC, have been surged into the department to help with Ukraine work and enable normal visa routes to return to normal service levels in due course.

To help reduce the number of outstanding claims for protection we are investing in a programme of transformation and business improvement initiatives that will speed up and simplify our processes, reduce the time people spend in the asylum system and decrease the number of people who are awaiting an interview or decision.

We have extensive ongoing recruitment plans in place and are actively increasing the number of asylum decision makers. Additionally we have career progression options that will aid the retention of staff.