§ Mr. NormanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many telephone calls were made by the public to the Immigration and Nationality Telephone Enquiry Bureau in each year since 1997; and what the average response time was for each year. [90850]
§ Beverley HughesThe Immigration and Nationality Enquiry Bureau answered 959,812 calls from members of the public during 2002. Data are not available prior to 2002 because the telephone equipment in use at that time was not able to provide data that differentiated between calls received from members of the public and those from Members of Parliament or other Government Departments and agencies.
188WThe average response time during 2002 for those held in the queue was four minutes and 44 seconds for callers on the General Enquiry line, 25 seconds for callers on the Application Forms line and five minutes and nine seconds for those on the National Asylum Support Service line.
§ Mr. NormanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many members of staff worked at the Immigration and Nationality Telephone Inquiry Bureau in(a) 1997, (b) 1998, (c) 1999, (d) 2000, (e) 2001 and (f) 2002; and what the average level of days absent was in each year. [90988]
§ Beverley HughesRecords are available for the years from 2000. The number of full-time equivalent staff employed in the Immigration and Nationality Telephone Enquiry Bureau was 127 in April 2000, 101 in April 2001 and 110 in April 2002.
Data are not recorded in terms of absenteeism. Sickness absence for the Home Office is recorded and published by the Cabinet Office.