Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many discussions Ministers in her Department had with the senior management of TNT in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022 on plans for responding to the increase in passport renewal applications that was likely to result from the re-opening of the travel industry once covid-19 lockdowns ended.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Senior Officials regularly meet with senior management of TNT and provide Ministerial feedback regarding supplier performance as part of their regular engagement.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passports have been delivered since TNT became the delivery provider; and how many complaints have been received regarding their service.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The volume deliveries by the secure delivery provider for Her Majesty’s Passport Office in the UK includes both passports and supporting documents. The delivery of passports alone is not held in a reportable format.
From 1 March 2020 to 30 November 2021, 8,286,931 passports and supporting documents have been delivered under the current contract for UK secure delivery services. 1829 complaints, were received about these services within the same period, which represents 0.02% of the delivery volume.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether officials in her Department have had discussions with representatives of TNT about complaints in respect of their passport delivery service.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Complaint information provides key insight to help identify and inform potential improvements to the services provided by Her Majesty’s Passport Office and its suppliers.
Complaints are therefore routinely discussed in the regular meetings held between HM Passport Office and FedEx (the parent company of TNT).
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of complaints in respect of the delivery of passports since TNT became the delivery provider.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The percentage of complaints about UK deliveries of passports and supporting documents is 0.02% between January and November 2021.
This compares to 0.02% in 2019 which was the last full year prior to the commencement of the current contract.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what performance assessment measures she uses to assess the timeliness of TNT in delivering documents from her Department to members of the public.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Her Majesty’s Passport Office assesses the performance of the UK Secure Delivery supplier, FedEx (parent company of TNT), using the following Key Performance Indicators/Service Level Agreements:
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the average length of time in days it takes for passports sent by the Passport Agency via TNT to be received by the applicant.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The average length of time taken for the delivery of printed passports is not held in a reportable format.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passport deliveries, despatched by her Department's contracted courier service TNT, were not delivered within five days.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The performance of Her Majesty’s Passport Office’s supplier for UK secure delivery services, FedEx (the parent company of TNT), is measured against a 24-hour service level for urgent services, or a 48-hour service level for standard applications, only.
The attached table provides the data of unsuccessful deliveries against these service levels between January and October 2021:
| % & volumes outside of target | |
24-hour | 48-hour | |
Jan 21 | 0.41 / (204) | 0.60 / (2465) |
Feb 21 | 0.10 / (48) | 0.49 / (1718) |
Mar 21 | 0.08 / (39) | 0.48 / (2423) |
Apr 21 | 0.08 / (34) | 0.39 / (1633) |
May 21 | 0.05 / (23) | 0.19 / (914) |
Jun 21 | 0.16 / (85) | 0.39 / (1455) |
Jul 21 | 0.07 / (34) | 0.12 / (469) |
Aug 21 | 0.07 / (41) | 0.39 / (5989) |
Sep 21 | 0.39 / (260) | 1.61 / (7282) |
Oct 21 | 0.10 / (66) | 0.17 / (816) |
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Service Level Agreement for the delivery of Biometric Residence Permits with TNT/FedEx, in what proportion of cases did TNT/FedEx not meet their first attempt delivery time targets, from 1 October 2020 to 1 February 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Delays to customers receiving their Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) can be for various reasons, relating to their individual application. This could be as a result of the following:
In December 2020 UKVI identified a failure relating to biometric enrolments through our overseas enrolment partner TLS, which was capturing oversized photographic images. This prevented 5,585 BRPs being produced between September 2020 and December 2020. On 22 January 2021 we wrote to all those customers affected to inform them of the problem. A technical fix has now been identified to resolve the problem and enable all the affected BRPs to be produced. The fix was introduced on 8 February 2021, all affected BRPs successfully printed on 9 February 2021. Customers affected will be written to on 10 February 2021 to inform them when their BRP will be either ready to collect from their chosen Post Office or delivered by FedEx to the address they provided during the application process.
UKVI does not hold figures relating to how many BRPs were delivered within ten working days, and we are unable to measure this from point of decision to point of delivery, through our supplier’s systems.
The DVLA, which produces BRPs, has an SLA to complete 90% of production requests within one working day and the remaining 10% within two working days. Between 1 October 2020 and 1 February 2021 it achieved 58.8% produced within 24 hours, and 95.4% within 48 hours. 4.6% took longer than 48 hours to produce.
The production of BRPs outside the 48 hour target was the result of a production failure at DVLA over a three working day period between 22 – 26 October 2020. The average processing time of the 19,250 affected was three working days. DVLA has not breached the 48 hour target since this date.
UKVI meets with DVLA weekly to monitor performance. The impacts of Covid-19 restrictions and safe working practices have reduced staffing capacity within the production site and contributed to the delays experienced.
Our secure delivery partner FedEx has a service level agreement to attempt first delivery of a BRP for 99% of packages collected from DVLA within 48. Between 1 October 2020 and end of December 2020, the latest assured figure available, FedEx achieved 92.4%.
FedEx does not keep figures relating to the average time it takes for the BRP to be delivered after the first delivery attempt. Successful re-delivery relies on the customer contacting FedEx to re-arrange delivery within 30 days of FedEx receiving the BRPs.
FedEx has a detailed improvement plan in place, and we meet with them twice a week to progress actions within the plan. We are confident that we will see improvements in service as they are implemented.
UKVI does not hold figures in relation to the number of delivery enquiries that were not responded to within the five working day SLA. However, we can confirm that the team responsible for responding to these enquiries are currently taking up to 30 working days to respond to enquiries. A recovery plan is being put in place with the aim to return to service levels by end of May 2021 subject to being able to onboard and train staff quickly.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking with the DVLA and TNT/FedEx to tackle delays in the production and delivery of Biometric Residence Permits.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Delays to customers receiving their Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) can be for various reasons, relating to their individual application. This could be as a result of the following:
In December 2020 UKVI identified a failure relating to biometric enrolments through our overseas enrolment partner TLS, which was capturing oversized photographic images. This prevented 5,585 BRPs being produced between September 2020 and December 2020. On 22 January 2021 we wrote to all those customers affected to inform them of the problem. A technical fix has now been identified to resolve the problem and enable all the affected BRPs to be produced. The fix was introduced on 8 February 2021, all affected BRPs successfully printed on 9 February 2021. Customers affected will be written to on 10 February 2021 to inform them when their BRP will be either ready to collect from their chosen Post Office or delivered by FedEx to the address they provided during the application process.
UKVI does not hold figures relating to how many BRPs were delivered within ten working days, and we are unable to measure this from point of decision to point of delivery, through our supplier’s systems.
The DVLA, which produces BRPs, has an SLA to complete 90% of production requests within one working day and the remaining 10% within two working days. Between 1 October 2020 and 1 February 2021 it achieved 58.8% produced within 24 hours, and 95.4% within 48 hours. 4.6% took longer than 48 hours to produce.
Delays to customers receiving their Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) can be for various reasons, relating to their individual application. This could be as a result of the following:
In December 2020 UKVI identified a failure relating to biometric enrolments through our overseas enrolment partner TLS, which was capturing oversized photographic images. This prevented 5,585 BRPs being produced between September 2020 and December 2020. On 22 January 2021 we wrote to all those customers affected to inform them of the problem. A technical fix has now been identified to resolve the problem and enable all the affected BRPs to be produced. The fix was introduced on 8 February 2021, all affected BRPs successfully printed on 9 February 2021. Customers affected will be written to on 10 February 2021 to inform them when their BRP will be either ready to collect from their chosen Post Office or delivered by FedEx to the address they provided during the application process.
UKVI does not hold figures relating to how many BRPs were delivered within ten working days, and we are unable to measure this from point of decision to point of delivery, through our supplier’s systems.
The DVLA, which produces BRPs, has an SLA to complete 90% of production requests within one working day and the remaining 10% within two working days. Between 1 October 2020 and 1 February 2021 it achieved 58.8% produced within 24 hours, and 95.4% within 48 hours. 4.6% took longer than 48 hours to produce.
The production of BRPs outside the 48 hour target was the result of a production failure at DVLA over a three working day period between 22 – 26 October 2020. The average processing time of the 19,250 affected was three working days. DVLA has not breached the 48 hour target since this date.
UKVI meets with DVLA weekly to monitor performance. The impacts of Covid-19 restrictions and safe working practices have reduced staffing capacity within the production site and contributed to the delays experienced.
Our secure delivery partner FedEx has a service level agreement to attempt first delivery of a BRP for 99% of packages collected from DVLA within 48. Between 1 October 2020 and end of December 2020, the latest assured figure available, FedEx achieved 92.4%.
FedEx does not keep figures relating to the average time it takes for the BRP to be delivered after the first delivery attempt. Successful re-delivery relies on the customer contacting FedEx to re-arrange delivery within 30 days of FedEx receiving the BRPs.
FedEx has a detailed improvement plan in place, and we meet with them twice a week to progress actions within the plan. We are confident that we will see improvements in service as they are implemented.
UKVI does not hold figures in relation to the number of delivery enquiries that were not responded to within the five working day SLA. However, we can confirm that the team responsible for responding to these enquiries are currently taking up to 30 working days to respond to enquiries. A recovery plan is being put in place with the aim to return to service levels by end of May 2021 subject to being able to onboard and train staff quickly.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Service Level Agreement with TNT/FedEx for the delivery of Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs), what the average delivery time was for BRP cards that fell outside of the first attempt delivery time target, from 1 October 2020 to 1 February 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Delays to customers receiving their Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) can be for various reasons, relating to their individual application. This could be as a result of the following:
In December 2020 UKVI identified a failure relating to biometric enrolments through our overseas enrolment partner TLS, which was capturing oversized photographic images. This prevented 5,585 BRPs being produced between September 2020 and December 2020. On 22 January 2021 we wrote to all those customers affected to inform them of the problem. A technical fix has now been identified to resolve the problem and enable all the affected BRPs to be produced. The fix was introduced on 8 February 2021, all affected BRPs successfully printed on 9 February 2021. Customers affected will be written to on 10 February 2021 to inform them when their BRP will be either ready to collect from their chosen Post Office or delivered by FedEx to the address they provided during the application process.
UKVI does not hold figures relating to how many BRPs were delivered within ten working days, and we are unable to measure this from point of decision to point of delivery, through our supplier’s systems.
The DVLA, which produces BRPs, has an SLA to complete 90% of production requests within one working day and the remaining 10% within two working days. Between 1 October 2020 and 1 February 2021 it achieved 58.8% produced within 24 hours, and 95.4% within 48 hours. 4.6% took longer than 48 hours to produce.
Delays to customers receiving their Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) can be for various reasons, relating to their individual application. This could be as a result of the following:
In December 2020 UKVI identified a failure relating to biometric enrolments through our overseas enrolment partner TLS, which was capturing oversized photographic images. This prevented 5,585 BRPs being produced between September 2020 and December 2020. On 22 January 2021 we wrote to all those customers affected to inform them of the problem. A technical fix has now been identified to resolve the problem and enable all the affected BRPs to be produced. The fix was introduced on 8 February 2021, all affected BRPs successfully printed on 9 February 2021. Customers affected will be written to on 10 February 2021 to inform them when their BRP will be either ready to collect from their chosen Post Office or delivered by FedEx to the address they provided during the application process.
UKVI does not hold figures relating to how many BRPs were delivered within ten working days, and we are unable to measure this from point of decision to point of delivery, through our supplier’s systems.
The DVLA, which produces BRPs, has an SLA to complete 90% of production requests within one working day and the remaining 10% within two working days. Between 1 October 2020 and 1 February 2021 it achieved 58.8% produced within 24 hours, and 95.4% within 48 hours. 4.6% took longer than 48 hours to produce.
The production of BRPs outside the 48 hour target was the result of a production failure at DVLA over a three working day period between 22 – 26 October 2020. The average processing time of the 19,250 affected was three working days. DVLA has not breached the 48 hour target since this date.
UKVI meets with DVLA weekly to monitor performance. The impacts of Covid-19 restrictions and safe working practices have reduced staffing capacity within the production site and contributed to the delays experienced.
Our secure delivery partner FedEx has a service level agreement to attempt first delivery of a BRP for 99% of packages collected from DVLA within 48. Between 1 October 2020 and end of December 2020, the latest assured figure available, FedEx achieved 92.4%.
FedEx does not keep figures relating to the average time it takes for the BRP to be delivered after the first delivery attempt. Successful re-delivery relies on the customer contacting FedEx to re-arrange delivery within 30 days of FedEx receiving the BRPs.
FedEx has a detailed improvement plan in place, and we meet with them twice a week to progress actions within the plan. We are confident that we will see improvements in service as they are implemented.
UKVI does not hold figures in relation to the number of delivery enquiries that were not responded to within the five working day SLA. However, we can confirm that the team responsible for responding to these enquiries are currently taking up to 30 working days to respond to enquiries. A recovery plan is being put in place with the aim to return to service levels by end of May 2021 subject to being able to onboard and train staff quickly.