Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to ensure the security of data submitted by third parties in support of visa applications.

UK Visa and Immigration’s commercial partners provide administrative services on behalf of the UK Government to support in processing visa applications. The UK Government visa decision making systems are entirely separate from commercial partner solutions.

Information provided by visa customers in support of their application is captured by UKVI’s commercial partner, and this information is encrypted and securely transmitted to UKVI and subsequently deleted from commercial partner systems.

UKVI works closely with its partners to ensure security of personal data and that this is handled in line with UK data protection requirements. UKVI’s Commercial Partners are certified to ISO 27001:2022 and accredited with UKVI Cyber Essentials Plus, ensuring compliance with the highest benchmarks for information protection. UKVI also ensure that its Commercial Partners undertake periodic third-party assessments to provide independent assurance on the security measures implemented.