Entry Clearance
53. One of the principal ways in which people come
into contact with the Foreign Office and its staff is through
its management of the United Kingdom's entry clearance service.
The relevant chapter in the Annual Report 2003 on the Entry Clearance
Services shows the increasing challenges faced by the FCO in this
area.[80] In 2002, applications
for visas increased by 9% worldwide to 1.94 million, with some
of the busier posts, such as Moscow and Bangkok, seeing increases
of up to 13%.[81] Given
this significant increase, we were not surprised that the Annual
Report recorded that the Office was unable to meet its Public
Service Agreement (PSA) target of clearing 90% of all non-residence
(or non-settlement) visa applications requiring an interview within
10 days, and that several larger posts, such as Lagos (Nigeria),
did not meet targets for queuing times over the busy summer months.
54. In response to a written question from the Committee
during the course of the inquiry, the Office told us that it had
put in place a number of measures to address this issue:
- the allocation of seasonal
relief officers to Posts has been reviewed to ensure that resources
are directed where pressure is greatest;
- we are seeking to increase our "Floater"
pool of Entry Clearance Officers to be able to respond quickly
to unexpected increases in demand;
- operational reviews are being prioritised to
focus on Posts where waiting times are causing most concern;
- our modernisation programme involving the streamlining
of systems and procedures and the introduction of remote application
methods such as couriers and application centres is designed to
eliminate excessive queues in normal circumstances."[82]
We welcome these measures, and those that have been
taken at a local level to tackle high demand at the busiest posts
and look forward to a progress report in the next Annual Report.[83]
55. In his oral evidence to the Committee, Sir Michael
Jay was very frank about the challenges the Entry Clearance Service
faced at that time. He also told us that: "There will always
be a small number of cases which, for one reason or another, go
wrong; we will do our utmost to minimise those, through proper
training programmes and also through making sure that we have
got enough visa ECOs [Entry Clearance Officers] in the posts concerned."[84]He
assured us, though, that the Office would make a "really
good stab" at meeting its PSA targets, which had proved such
an effective driver for improvement in the past.[85]
56. We conclude that the Foreign Office has undertaken
a number of sound initiatives to respond to the unprecedented
rise in visa applications in recent years. We record our thanks
to those members of staff who work in this field, often in difficult
and stressful conditions. We recommend that the Office continue
to aspire to meet the challenging targets set in this area and
to seek innovative solutions to the challenges it faces in dealing
with the increasing demands on its operations.
80 Departmental Report, p
122 ff. Back
81
Ibid., p19-22 and Ev 54 Back
82
Ev 64, para 20 Back
83
Ev 64, para 21 Back
84
Q 80 Back
85
Q 82 Back
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