Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason it takes 16 weeks on average to receive a decision on Health and Care Workers visas; and what steps she is taking to reduce this amount of time.

The Home Office had been prioritising Ukraine Visa Scheme applications in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has impacted on the delivery of some of our service standards.

We remain focussed on the processing of Entry Clearance applications for Health & Care Workers, to assist them in entering the UK to take up employment in the Health and Care sector, and these are being decided within our published service standards. We have injected additional resource into the team and expect the time taken to assess Health and Care Worker in-country applications to reduce significantly.

Details on visa processing times are published on the Home Office website at: Visa decision waiting times - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) These are updated on a regular basis to inform customers of any changes that may affect their application.