Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to respond to the email from the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley dated 15 September 2021, case reference LH16834; and if her Department will provide an update on that urgent application.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
I apologise for the delay. UK Visas and Immigration, MP Account Management team responded to all of the enquiries sent by the hon. Member on 28 January 2022.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to respond to the email from the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley dated 15 September 2021, case reference LH16830; and if her Department will provide an update on that urgent application.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
I apologise for the delay. UK Visas and Immigration, MP Account Management team responded to all of the enquiries sent by the hon. Member on 28 January 2022.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to respond to the email from the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley dated 15 September 2021, case reference LH16773; and if her Department will provide an update on that urgent application.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
I apologise for the delay. UK Visas and Immigration, MP Account Management team responded to all of the enquiries sent by the hon. Member on 28 January 2022.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to respond to the email from the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley dated 15 September 2021, case reference LH16318; and if her Department will provide an update on that urgent application.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
I apologise for the delay. UK Visas and Immigration, MP Account Management team responded to all of the enquiries sent by the hon. Member on 28 January 2022.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to respond to the email from the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley dated 15 September 2021, case reference LH14942; and what progress her Department has made on the application connected to that case.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
I apologise for the delay. UK Visas and Immigration, MP Account Management team responded to all of the enquiries sent by the hon. Member on 28 January 2022.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to respond to the email from the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley of 21 October 2021, case reference LH14045; and what progress her Department has made on the application connected to that case.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
I apologise for the delay. UK Visas and Immigration, MP Account Management team responded to all of the enquiries sent by the hon. Member on 28 January 2022.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the closure of the Crown post office in Luton on the accessibility to biometric information services for visa or immigration applications.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Customers making immigration applications can no longer use Post Office branches to enrol their biometrics in the majority of cases. Most customers now enrol their biometrics at a UK Visas & Citizenship Application Service (UKVCAS) centre.
The previous service offered by the Post Office was biometric enrolment only, whereas the new UKVCAS service brings together multiple services to make the application process more streamlined.
The UKVCAS service is run by our commercial partner, Sopra Steria Ltd (SSL), who undertook market research to identify service locations; their research included the impact on customer travel time, cost and accessibility. The results of this were that 62% of customers will, on average, have to travel less than 25 miles to visit a core service point, with 78% travelling less than 50 miles.
SSL can also cater for customers who wish to have more flexible, on-demand, mobile application services, for example at university campuses, employers’ offices or individual customers’ homes.
As part of this contract SSL continuously captures and analyses customer feedback and reviews customer demand to ensure there is sufficient capacity. During May and June SSL opened six additional sites: Manchester, Cardiff, Exeter, Leeds, Sheffield and Edinburgh, with the view to open more.
For information on the closest core and enhanced service points to Luton, please see the UKVCAS website at: https://www.ukvcas.co.uk/locations.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria his Department uses to determine the locations in the UK where biometric information for visa or immigration applications can be provided.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The majority of customers will be able to submit their biometrics and supporting information for their visa application via a UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service (UK VCAS) centre, which are run by Sopra Steria Ltd (SSL) on behalf of UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI). However, Individuals who have higher needs, may be vulnerable, or whose circumstances may be complex and would benefit from face to face interaction with the Home Office are directed to Service and Support Centres (SSC) where they will receive support with their application. The SSCs are all based in pre-existing locations which were previously used as premium service centres, which broadly align with the postal districts of our customers.
There are currently six core UKVCAS service points and seven core SSC’s across the UK at which application submission services are offered. The SSCs are based in Belfast, Cardiff, Croydon, Glasgow, Liverpool, Sheffield and Solihull.
SSL undertook market research to identify initial service locations for the UKVCAS service points; their research included the impact on customer travel time, cost and accessibility. Beyond that, SSL offer a range of enhanced services in a further 50 UKVCAS locations. These services enable customers to submit their biometric information (photo and fingerprints) and supporting evidence in one location. 62% of customers will, on average, have to travel less than 25 miles to visit a core service centre, with 78% travelling less than 50 miles. Appointments may be offered for individual customers and/or family groups to enrol their biometrics together.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Sopra Steria in handling UK visa applications for migrants living and working in the UK.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service Centres are run by Sopra Steria Ltd (SSL) on behalf of UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI). The new service offered by SSL provides a modernised, digital and more secure process for customers to submit key evidence and personal information.
UKVCAS also provides an opportunity for migrants living and working in the UK to opt for priority services to speed up their application decision and purchase additional, optional services from SSL to enhance the overall experience. UKVI regularly monitor SSL performance through Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) within the contract. Currently SSL are experiencing some demand issues, but I can reassure you that SSL continue to assess customer demand, working closely with UKVI.
As a result SSL have recently opened three additional service points in Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester to meet the demand in the surrounding areas. In addition, to increasing the number of service points, SSL are working with the existing network of UKVCAS centres to increase the number of appointments offered to customers to increase overall capacity.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for UK visas are received for processing on average each day in (a) Pretoria, (b) Abuja, (c) Lagos, (d) Accra, (e) Croydon and (f) Sheffield decision making hubs.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The available published information relates to all entry clearance visa applications received per quarter, by nationality of the applicant, which is published on a quarterly basis as part of the Home Office’s publication scheme, in the Home Office’s ‘Immigration Statistics’, Visas data tables volume 1, table vi_02_q, latest edition at