§ Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment has been made of the performance of Integrated Casework Directorate North in Sheffield since August 2002, with particular reference to the backlog of European Community Association Agreement applications. [121841]
§ Beverley HughesCasework performance is monitored on a weekly basis. Since the establishment of the unit in Sheffield last August to help reduce casework backlogs it has handled 20,128 European Community Association Agreement applications and made decisions on 17,027 of them.
§ Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason there is no direct phone line available for(a) the public and (b) legal representatives to contact the integrated Casework Directorate North offices in Sheffield; what assessment he has made of the implications of this for the speed of dealing with outstanding European Community Association Agreement applications; and if he will make a statement. [121842]
§ Beverley HughesThe Immigration and Nationality Enquiry Bureau (INEB) was set up in December 1998 to field telephone enquiries for the whole of Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) from members of the public and legal representatives seeking general immigration advice or progress on outstanding applications. INEB telephone staff have access to the324W same information as caseworkers throughout IND, including those in ICD North, by means of the Case Information Database (CID). The intention in offering a call centre operation has always been to divert telephone enquiries away from caseworking staff to ensure that applications are resolved as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Callers are able to get through to INEB within one or two attempts and telephone staff have access to caseworkers in ICD North if detailed information is required for callers.
As a result of the additional caseworking capacity based in Sheffield, the number of outstanding European Community Association Agreement applications has been reduced to about 2,000 and the majority of new applications are being decided within eight weeks of receipt.
§ Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many European Community Association Agreement applications processed through the offices of Integrated Casework Directorate North in Sheffield have been delayed beyond the expected minimum over the last year; and if he will make a statement. [121843]
§ Beverley HughesSince the Sheffield casework unit was established in August 2002, some 6,745 European Community Association Agreement applications have been delayed beyond the expected minimum period although the majority have been decided within six months. The additional caseworking capacity introduced in Sheffield has made a significant contribution to the reduction of overall after-entry casework backlogs.