HC Deb 26 July 1999 vol 336 cc62-4W
Mr. Lidington

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the earliest date of unopened post received by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. [93029]

Mr. Mike O'Brien

There is currently no unopened post in the Mail Handling Section. However, there is a separate procedure for dealing with applications and accompanying fees in the Travel Documents Case Management Unit. These letters are normally unopened until they are processed and a cashier issues a receipt for the fee. As at 26 July, the earliest date of unopened Travel Documents applications was 16 June.

Mr. Lidington

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the current backlog of cases at the Liverpool office of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate; and how many of these cases have been outstanding for over(a) six months, (b) 12 months and (c) two years. [92898]

Mr. Mike O'Brien

At 30 June 1999, the current backlog of cases in the Liverpool office stands at 95,200. 84,000 cases have been outstanding for six months; 50,800 have been outstanding for 12 months and 3,200 for two years. This Government inherited large backlogs and are putting in place steps to deal with them.

Mr. Lidington

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on progress made with the pilot implementation of the integrated information technology system in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. [92902]

Mr. Mike O'Brien

Pilot implementation will begin only after the system has passed its contractual acceptance tests. Those tests represent the final stage of the formal testing process which began in June. I intend that the testing should be exhaustive. The pilot stage is accordingly unlikely to begin much before the end of this year.

Mr. Lidington

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases are held in the Central Work in Progress Store of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate; and how many of the cases have been outstanding for more than(a) six months, (b) one year and (c) two years. [92901]

Mr. Mike O'Brien

There are approximately 110,144 cases held in the Work in Progress Store of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. Of these cases, 20,927 have been outstanding for more than six months, 36,330 have been outstanding for more than one year, and 52,887 have been outstanding for more than two years.

Mr. Lidington

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what targets he has set for the Immigration and Nationality Directorate to reply to correspondence from(a) hon. Members and (b) members of the public; and what has been the performance of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in meeting those targets in each month since the beginning of 1999. [93028]

Mr. Mike O'Brien

The Home Office Public Service Agreement commits the Immigration and Nationality Directorate to reply to 95 per cent. of correspondence from (a) hon. Members within 15 working days. Since January 1999, a monthly average of 16 per cent. met the target.

In respect of (b), correspondence from members of the public, the Home Office Public Service Agreement commits the Immigration and Nationality Directorate to reply to 95 per cent. of correspondence within 20 working days. Since January 1999, a monthly average of 72 per cent. met the target.