To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of the performance of her Department’s commercial partners in carrying out work on visa applications. (254643)

The UK Border Agency processes around 2.5 million visa applications a year.

Its commercial partners currently operate 106 visa application centres in 48 countries and assist with over 80 per cent. of all visa applications. They provide support services but play no part in decision making.

The performance of UKBA’s commercial partners engaged in visa services is continually assessed by regional managers against contract service levels and other key performance indicators.

In addition, UKBA senior managers review a dedicated commercial partner balanced scorecard with senior executives from both companies on a bi-monthly basis.