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Immigration Controls

Volume 479: debated on Monday 21 July 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average waiting time was at immigration for non-EEA citizens entering the UK via London Heathrow Terminal One in the first six months of 2007. (164048)

The UK Border Agency did not commence collating queue performance information in its current format until August 2007. It is therefore not possible to provide the average waiting time for non-EEA citizens entering the UK via Heathrow Terminal one for the first six months of 2007. Please find following, however, a table providing the most up-to-date queue performance at major London airports, including Heathrow, for the month of May.

The UK Border Agency recognises that it has a responsibility to process genuine passengers without delay but the safety and security of the public remains a priority.

There are currently arrangements in place at most ports to benchmark performance. Heathrow is among those airports that are currently using a 45 minutes (non-EEA) and 25 minutes (EEA) queuing time as such a benchmark. This is the maximum wait time in which we aim to process passengers and in turn informs staff deployment as well as informing considerations on further investment.

We are clear that the average queuing times are well within these benchmarks but we will continue to work on reducing the occasions where those figures are exceeded.

Queuing times during May 2008 for London airports

Location

Heathrow

Gatwick

Stansted

London City1

Non-EEA

Average queue length (minutes)

12

15

12

3

Percentage over benchmark

2

4

0

0

14 out of 598 measures

11 out of 270 measures

0 out of 95 measures

0 out of 74 measures

EEA

Average queue length (minutes)

4

8

7

3

Percentage over benchmark

1

2

0

0

8 out of 599 measures

5 out of 270 measures

0 out of 95 measures

0 out of 68 measures

1 London city operates single queues but these are predominantly EEA passengers.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average waiting time was at immigration for non-EEA citizens entering the UK via London Gatwick South Terminal in the first six months of 2007. (164049)

The UK Border Agency did not commence collating queue performance information in its current format until August 2007. It is therefore not possible to provide the average waiting time for non-EEA citizens entering the UK via London Gatwick South Terminal in the first six months of 2007. Please find following, however, a table providing the most up-to-date queue performance at major London airports, including Gatwick, for the month of May.

The UK Border Agency recognises that it has a responsibility to process genuine passengers without delay but the safety and security of the public remains a priority.

There are currently arrangements in place at most ports to benchmark performance. Gatwick is among those airports that are currently using a 45 minutes (non-EEA) and 25 minutes (EEA) queuing time as such a benchmark. This is the maximum wait time in which we aim to process passengers and in turn informs staff deployment as well as informing considerations on further investment.

We are clear that the average queuing times are well within these benchmarks but we will continue to work on reducing the occasions where those figures are exceeded.

Queuing times during May 2008 for London airports

Location

Heathrow

Gatwick

Stansted

London City1

Non-EEA

Average queue length (minutes)

12

15

12

3

Percentage over benchmark

2

4

0

0

14 out of 598 measures

11 out of 270 measures

0 out of 95 measures

0 out of 74 measures

EEA

Average queue length (minutes)

4

8

7

3

Percentage over benchmark

1

2

0

0

8 out of 599 measures

5 out of 270 measures

0 out of 95 measures

0 out of 68 measures

1 London city operates single queues but these are predominantly EEA passengers.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many educational establishments are expected to be involved as sponsors under the proposed points-based immigration system. (197758)

[holding answer 31 March 2008]: As the new licensing regime for colleges has not started, it is not possible to predict how many will pass.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether a foreign international in the UK may apply to immigrate under the points-based system while remaining in the UK. (218251)

[holding answer 14 July 2008]: A foreign-national who is in the UK may be given permission to stay under the points based system if he or she is here in an immigration category from which the immigration rules allow “switching” into the part of the new system that the applicant wants to join.

For example, someone who is currently here as a work permit holder or student and wishes to switch into the highly skilled tier of PBS (Tier 1 (General)) may do so, provided he or she meets the other requirements of the immigration rules. But someone who has entered the country as a visitor or illegally may not. Full details may be found in part 6a of the immigration rules, available on the UK Border Agency website.