4 Key indicators of the Agency's performance
38. The Committee assesses the Agency's performance
on a quarterly basis against a number of key indicators covering
the major aspects of its work. This list is not definitive and
the committee may decide, as and when new issues arise, to add
further indicators:
- Foreign national offenders
- The asylum and immigration backlog: live casework
- New asylum cases
- Immigration
- Immigration detention
- Appeals and tribunals
- Sponsors and licensing
- Enforcement action
- Migration Refusal Pool
- Intelligence
- Departmental information and cooperation with
Parliament
Ex-Foreign National Offenders
| Ex-FNOS released without being considered for deportation
No significant change:
- 47 of the ex-FNOs released without being considered for deportation in 2006 remained untraced at the end of Q4 2012, the same as in the previous quarter.
- Four additional ex-FNOs from the 2006 cohort were removed from the UK in Q4 2012, taking the total to 409.
- Three of the 28 ex-FNOs released without being considered for deportation in 2011 remain untraced.
- One ex-FNOs was released without being considered for deportation in 2012.
Ex-FNOs living in the community
- Worse performance: 4,102 ex-FNOs were living in the community whilst awaiting deportation in Q4 2012, an increase of 122 on Q3 2012. 65% of these cases are over two years old.
Removals in this quarter
- No significant change: 362 ex-FNOs eligible for deportation were released in Q4 2012, 95% of their cases were outstanding at the end of Q4 2012. This is similar to Q3 2012 when 340 ex-FNOs were released with 95% of cases outstanding at the end of the quarter.
- Improved performance: Of the ex-FNOs whose deportation cases were outstanding, 143 were delayed because their cases were still being concluded by the UKBA. This is a fall of 32% from Q3 2012.
- Worse performance: 127 days was the average length of time it took to deport an ex-FNO in Q4 2012, an increase of 9 days from the previous quarter.
- Worse performance: There were 208 failed removals in Q4 2012, 15% of the total number of removals. This is an deterioration from Q3 2012 when there were 165 failed removals.
- No significant change: 42% of removals were carried out during the Early Release Scheme period in Q4 2012 compared with 45% in Q3 2012.
- No significant change: 36% of removals were carried out under the Facilitated Returns Scheme in Q4 2012 compared with 38% in Q3 2012.
|
KEY ISSUE: TACKLING THE BACKLOG OF EX-FNOS LIVING
IN THE COMMUNITY
39. Although the Agency has
continued to make slow progress in removing the 2006 cohort of
foreign prisoners, we are concerned that the number of foreign
national ex-offenders living in the community rose by
122 in the final quarter of 2012. The length of time taken to
deport an ex-FNO has also increased by nine days. These problems
must not be allowed to go unchecked.
Asylum and immigration backlog:
live casework
Asylum backlog
- 33,500 backlog asylum applications were being caseworked by the Agency in Q4 2012.
- At the end of Q4 2012, 55% of all legacy asylum applications concluded to date had been granted leave to remain and 27% of applicants were removed. 17% of applications were found to be duplicates.
Immigration backlog
- 7,000 backlog migration cases were being caseworked by the Agency in Q4 2012.
- At the end of Q4 2012, 46% of all legacy migration cases concluded to date had been granted leave to remain and 33% of applicants had been removed. 21% of cases were found to be duplicates.
|
KEY ISSUE: PRIORITISING THE CONCLUSION OF LEGACY
CASEWORK
40. The asylum and migration backlog is made up of "live"
cases, where the Agency has established contact with people who
were previously untraceable. The number of asylum and immigration
backlog casework has grown steadily throughout the year, this
is to be expected as the Agency began to properly implement its
tracing programme in this period. When
the controlled archives closed the Agency had 33,900 backlog asylum
cases and 7,000 backlog immigration cases that it needs to conclude.
Most of the individuals concerned will have waited many years
to find out the result of their applications. We reiterate our
recommendation that the Home Office must now prioritise the conclusion
of their cases and work fast to give them a swift decision.
As we have
pointed out in evidence sessions, it would be easier to understand
the nature of the very substantial backlog and legacy cases if
a host of different designations were not used for the numbers
involved.
New asylum cases
|
Initial decisions and conclusions
- Worse performance: 12,816 asylum cases were awaiting an initial decision at the end of Q4 2012 a 17% increase on the previous quarter.
- Worse performance: There was a 18% rise on the quarter in the number of asylum cases awaiting an initial decision for more than 6 months.
- No significant change 61% of asylum cases were concluded within one year in Q4, down from 64% on the previous quarter.
Applicants previously removed from the UK
- Ten individuals were removed from the UK and subsequently granted refugee status or humanitarian protection in Q4 2012. The individuals were nationals of Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq and Pakistan.
|
KEY ISSUE: A GROWING BACKLOG OF CASES PENDING
AN INITIAL DECISION FOR MORE THAN 6 MONTHS
41. We are concerned to see
yet another increase this quarter in the number of asylum cases
waiting more than six months for an initial decision. The time
taken to process asylum applications is an issue which we
are considering in more detail in our inquiry into asylum.
Immigration
|
Number of visas issued and grants for settlement
- There were 222,935 visas issued in 2012, a decline of 2% in the number of visas issued in 2011.
- There were 126,891 grants of settlement in 2012, a decline for 24% in the number of grants for settlement in 2011.
- There were 278,176 study visas[20] issued in 2012, a decline of 14% in the number of study visas issued in 2011.
Processing of in-country immigration cases
The Agency's targets are to process 90% of Tier 1, 2 and 5 and 85% of Tier 4 in-country postal applications within four weeks.
- New backlog: 190,000 cases in the permanent and temporary migration pool.
- New backlog: Only 10% of Tier 1 applications were processed on time in Q4 2012, a decline from 18% in the previous quarter.
- 21% of Tier 4 application were processed on time in Q4 2012, an increase from 14% in the previous quarter.
- 86% of Tier 2 and 79% of Tier 5 applications were processed on time in Q4 2012, an increase from 79% and 71% respectively in the previous quarter.
- New backlog: 61,103 in-country immigration applications had not been loaded onto the Agency's Case Information Database (CID) at the end of Q4 2012, an increase of 4% from the previous quarter.
Processing of out of country immigration cases
- Improved performance: The Agency met its processing targets for out-of-country visa applications in all four tiers in Q4 2012. 100% of visas tiers were processed within its final 60 day target time.
|
KEY ISSUE: BACKLOG OF IN-COUNTRY IMMIGRATION
APPLICATIONS
42. We have documented the Agency's shocking level of customer
service in our previous reports on its work. Although processing
of applications in Tiers 2, 4 and 5 has improved in this quarter,
there has been a further decline , from 18% to just 10%, in the
number of Tier 1 applications processed on time. Just one in ten
Tier 1 visa applications is processed within the Agency's service standard time.
When Sarah Rapson gave evidence to us recently, she emphasised
the need for UK Visas and Immigration to adopt a more customer-focused
approach to its work. That is clearly something that
is urgently required and we hope that the re-organisation of immigration
and visa services will provide the framework in which it can happen.
But nobody in the Home Office should be under any illusion that
the re-organisation will in and of itself deliver service improvements.
43. On the 15 April 2013, Channel 4 broadcast
an episode of Dispatches entitled 'Immigration Undercover',
which featured undercover journalists who had infiltrated the
former UK Border Agency. The programme revealed that, 18 days
before the 31 March deadline to clear the family migration backlog,
the UKBA had split the family applications into four categories,
designated A, B, C and D. The A, B and C backlogs, each of which
consisted of fewer than 10,000, relatively simple cases, were
cleared. But backlog D, which consisted of 50,356 complex cases,
was not cleared. We are concerned that the Home Office is using
'backlog splitting' to disguise the full extent of the backlog
and the lack of progress made in clearing it. The Home Office
must be transparent about the number of cases remaining in the
backlogs. There were also other allegations of figures relating
to visa applications being massaged by the Agency. The Home Office
must investigate immediately to see if this is still the case.
44. We were alarmed to discover
in Sarah Rapson's evidence session a further backlog of 190,000
cases in the temporary and permanent migration pool that were
never revealed to the Committee before. The total figure for the
number of cases in the backlog has reached over half a million
(502,462). Whilst we welcome this admission from Ms Rapson and
hope she is more forthcoming with this Committee then her predecessor,
it is simply unacceptable that new backlogs are routinely revealed
in Committee evidence sessions.
45. Ms Rapson must make it a
priority to be aware of all the backlogs that there are, and to
inform us promptly of them all. If UK Visas and Immigration is
truly committed to full transparency and accountability they must
be upfront about the total number of cases awaiting resolution.
Only when this is done will the Home Office be better able to
proportion the appropriate resources to tackle this issue. In
Rob Whiteman's letter of 7 May 2013 to the Chair he said: "As
at 31 December 2012 there were 85,833 cases in progress across
temporary migration as well as 48,857 cases not yet put on the
system to give a total of 134,690 cases in progress overall. I
can confirm that as at 31 March 2012 this figure has been reduced
to 105,167 cases, with the number of uninput cases at 1,073".
46. There was no mention of
the number of cases in progress across permanent migration. We
are concerned that Mr Whiteman has not been as open with the Committee
as he should have been. These figures show an increase of 18,261
cases in progress despite the reduction in cases waiting to be
put on the system. The Committee are concerned that the organisation
simply does not have enough resources to deal with the backlog
of cases. The Home Office must clarify the total number of cases
in the temporary and permanent migration pool, exactly what these
cases are and the maximum length of time that cases in this backlog
have been outstanding. We also expect to have a complete listing
for each immigration category of how many applications have been
made, how many have not yet been processed, and how many have
not been completed within the advertised service standard.
Immigration detention
Rule 35 reports
- Rule 35 of the Detention Centre Rules states that medical practitioners are required to report to the Agency any detainee whose health is likely to be injuriously affected by detention or any condition of detention and any detainee they are concerned may be a victim of torture.
- 354 reports were made under Rule 35 to the Agency in Q4 2012, an Increase of 53% from Q3 2012. Thirty-nine reports (11%) resulted in the individual in question being released. This is an increase on the previous quarter when 6% of reports resulted in the individual being released.
Child detention
- Worse performance: 61 children entered immigration detention in Q4 2012, a rise from 48 the previous quarter.
- Improved performance: 59 children left immigration detention in Q3 2012. 92% of those detained had been held for 3 days or less, an improvement from 87% on the previous quarter.
|
Appeals and tribunals[21]
| Appeals Improvement Plan: progress against targets
Border Agency to represent at 90% of appeals
- Improved performance: An Agency representative was present at 94% of all appeal hearings in Q4 2012, a rise from 87% on the previous quarter.
90% of bundles to be received by the court by the prescribed date
- Unacceptable performance: 75% of cases bundles were delivered to the court on time by the Agency in Q3 2012, a rise from 66% in the previous quarter.
|
Sponsors and licensing
New sponsor applications
- 1,912 new sponsorship applications were made in Q4 2012, 1,748 for Tier 2, 59 for Tier 4 and 105 for Tier 5.[22]
- The average length of time it took to process a sponsor application in Q4 2012 was 14 days, a decline from 41 days in the previous quarter. 1,766 applicants took longer than the average length to process.
Follow up visits
Worse performance:
- 34% of follow up visits to Tier 2 sponsors were unannounced in Q4 2012 an increase from 31% in the previous quarter.
- 53% of follow up visits to Tier 4 sponsors were unannounced in Q4 2012 an increase from 30% in the previous quarter.
- 11% of follow up visits to Tier 5 sponsors were unannounced in Q4 2012, the same proportion as in the previous quarter.
|
Departmental information and cooperation with
Parliament
|
Departmental information
- 13,302 FTE equivalent staff were working for the Agency in Q4 2012.
- The Agency spent £572,500 on external consultants in Q4 2012.
Cooperation with Parliament
No significant change:
- The Agency responded to 84% of MPs' emails within 20 working days in Q4 2012. This fell 11 percentage points short of their target.
- The Agency resolved 56% of queries made via their MP's Inquiry Line within 10 working days. This fell 34 percentage points short of their target.
- The Agency's response to this Committee's data request for Q4 2012 arrived on time.
|
47. The Committee were deeply
concerned to discover that the spending on external consultants
in Q4 had increased by a factor of 20 on Q3, a rise from £27,000
to over £500,000. The use of external consultants has been
actively discouraged across Whitehall as spending cuts take their
toll on budgets. We expect the Home Office to clarify why this
huge increase has occurred. We recommend that the Home Office
has sensible controls on the use of such consultants.
48. The Committee are concerned
that the organisation has missed its targets on responses to MPs
queries. Constituents and MPs simply want to know where they stand
and it should not take so long to answer such requests. Ultimately
this leads to much of the ill-feeling directed at UK Visas and
Immigration. If a more detailed and quicker response was sent
constituents and MPs would make less representations therefore
reducing the workload of the service. We have seen anecdotal evidence
that the responses given by the MPs Inquiry Line are below standard
and lacking in information. The Committee feel that resources
should be concentrated with the MP Account Managers and urge the
Home Office to reconsider the merit of the Inquiry Line. In addition,
solicitors frequently complain they are unable to get replies,
or have to wait a very long time, before receiving a response
on immigration cases. It is partly for this reason that solicitors
request Members of Parliament to write to the authorities on behalf
of constituents. Moreover, MPs themselves continue to experience
long delays in receiving replies from the UK Border Agency.
Border Agency Backlogs
| No. of cases
Q3
| No. of cases
Q4
| Difference
| % Increase or decrease since Q3 2012[23]
|
| 'Live' asylum cohort |
28,500
| 33,500
| 5,000
| 18%
|
| Asylum controlled archive
| 0
| 0
| 0
| -
|
| Live immigration cases |
4,000
| 7,000
| 3,000
| 75%
|
| Immigration controlled archive
| 0
| 0
| 0
| -
|
| FNOs living in the community
| 3,980
| 4,102
| 122
| 3%
|
| FNOs - untraced | 47
| 47
| 0
| 0
|
| Migration refusal pool |
181,541
| 190,615
| 9,074
| 5%
|
| FLTR applications not processed within targets
| 28,558
| Unknown
| Unknown
| Unknown
|
| No. of cases still to be loaded on CID
| 59,000
| 61,103
| 2,103
| 4%
|
| FLTR on the basis of marriage or civil partnership - cases pending review
| 14,000
| 14,000
| 0
| 0
|
| FLTR on basis of marriage or civil partnership - cases pending initial decision
| 2,100
| 2,100
| 0
| 0
|
| Temporary and permanent migration pool
| Unknown
| 190,000
| 190,000
| Unknown
|
| Total
| 321,726
| 502,467
| |
|
20 Study visas include student visas for main applicants
and dependents plus visas for student visitors Back
21
Figures relate to First Tier Tribunal cases Back
22
Not all applications for sponsor status in Tier 4 are for new
licences, the figure also includes reinstatements. Back
23
Bold indicates worse performance Back
|
