Published information on EU Settlement Scheme applications by region and local authority can be found in the Home Office’s ‘EU Settlement Scheme quarterly statistics’, local authority statistics tables, table EUSS_LA, available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/826752/eu-settlement-scheme-local-authority-statistics-28-august-2018-to-30-june-2019.ods.

The latest published information on EU Settlement Scheme applications concluded for the UK can be found in the Home Office’s ‘EU Settlement Scheme monthly statistics’ available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/eu-settlement-scheme-statistics-august-2019. It was noted in this release that one application was refused on suitability grounds during the period from 1 August to 31 August 2019.

The available data is of applications received and processed since testing began on 28 August 2018, just over 12 months ago. The Home Office does not currently publish statistics on EU Settlement Scheme application outcomes by local authority.

The Home Office is committed to publishing more detailed quarterly statistics on the EU Settlement Scheme. Home Office statisticians are currently considering the content of the next quarterly release and will take into account the views of statistics users.

Customers making immigration applications can no longer use Post Office branches to enrol their biometrics in the majority of cases. Most customers now enrol their biometrics at a UK Visas & Citizenship Application Service (UKVCAS) centre.

The previous service offered by the Post Office was biometric enrolment only, whereas the new UKVCAS service brings together multiple services to make the application process more streamlined.

The UKVCAS service is run by our commercial partner, Sopra Steria Ltd (SSL), who undertook market research to identify service locations; their research included the impact on customer travel time, cost and accessibility. The results of this were that 62% of customers will, on average, have to travel less than 25 miles to visit a core service point, with 78% travelling less than 50 miles.

SSL can also cater for customers who wish to have more flexible, on-demand, mobile application services, for example at university campuses, employers’ offices or individual customers’ homes.

As part of this contract SSL continuously captures and analyses customer feedback and reviews customer demand to ensure there is sufficient capacity. During May and June SSL opened six additional sites: Manchester, Cardiff, Exeter, Leeds, Sheffield and Edinburgh, with the view to open more.

For information on the closest core and enhanced service points to Luton, please see the UKVCAS website at: https://www.ukvcas.co.uk/locations.

As detailed in the East Midlands franchise announcement on 10 April, a new express service will operate between London and Corby. This will provide two trains per hour northbound calling at Luton Airport, Luton, Bedford, Wellingborough and Kettering. The current East Midlands timetable provides one direct train per hour northbound to both Luton and Luton Airport.These modern express trains will also deliver more seats for the passengers on this route.

Trains continue to call at Luton Airport Parkway in the peaks. The Department attends monthly Industry forums which discuss the future timetable development of passengers services on the Midlands Main Line, and the expected reinstatement of East Midlands peak service calls at Luton and Bedford.

In the 2015 funding settlement, the Government agreed with the BBC that responsibility for the concession will transfer to the BBC in June 2020.

The government and the BBC agreed this is a fair deal for the BBC - in return we closed the iPlayer loophole and committed to increase the licence fee in line with inflation. And to help with financial planning, we agreed to provide phased transitional funding over 2 years to gradually introduce the cost to the BBC.

This reform was subject to public discussion and debated extensively during the passage of the Digital Economy Act 2017 through Parliament.

On 10 June 2019, the BBC announced that the current scheme will end. From 1 June 2020, a free TV licence will only be available to a household with someone aged over 75 who receives Pension Credit.

The table below provides estimates of the costs for 2017/18 of providing free TV licences to people aged 75 and over in the geographical areas requested, in nominal prices. The figures for 2018/19 will be available in September.

The Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office and allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business.  This strategy, backed by Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010, has delivered a branch network that is at its most stable and accessible in decades, with over 11,500 branches and 99.7% of the UK population living within 3 miles of their nearest branch.  This investment in the Post Office has also led to other benefits to the consumer including an extra 200,000 opening hours per week and over 7,500 modernised branches.

There is no Post Office closure or privatisation programme and the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy has not received any representations on the franchising of the Post Office in Luton. The Post Office ran a 6-week public consultation from 24 October 2018 to 5 December 2018 and will write to locally elected representatives, Consumer Advocacy Bodies and respondents to the consultation on its decisions and plans.

The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010.

While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. There is no post office closure programme in Luton or across the UK, however, post offices are being franchised and this is an operational matter for the Post Office. I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the Group Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

The relocation of the Peugeot warehouse from Coventry to Luton is a commercial decision for the company. Ministers and officials meet representatives of automotive sector companies regularly, including PSA (owner of Peugeot and Vauxhall) on a range of issues.

The Department for Transport is continually reviewing the service in the peaks from Bedford and Luton. Peak calls on East Midlands services have been removed temporarily until December 2020. The Department will continue to work with the rail industry to see if these calls can be reinstated earlier.

A new Thameslink timetable will be introduced from May 2018, which will increase the current provision of services to 18 trains per hour, and then gradually increase to 24 trains per hour by December 2019. The industry has, and continues, to work closely to develop timetables that maximise capacity, however this fundamentally means trying to fit more trains on the same amount of track. Some temporary changes have therefore been made to the May 2018 East Midlands Trains timetable until the completion of the Midland Main Line upgrade programme in 2020 which will mean peak-time services will no longer call at Bedford or Luton. The relevant operators are working to identify how a suitable balance between fast and stopping services can be provided from these locations during this period.

The changes are estimated to impact those travelling from the North to Bedford (120 passengers) and Luton (85 passengers) and for commuter passengers into London from Bedford (1500 passengers) and Luton (500 passengers) per day. The commuter passengers will of course be able to transfer onto Govia Thameslink Railway trains.

In order to realise the benefits of the Thameslink Programme and the planned upgrade to the Midland Mainline, to be completed in 2020, a temporary timetable has been developed from May 2018. This limits the impact to passengers until the planned capacity is fully available and balances the needs of passengers across the routes. This has resulted in the temporary removal of peak direction East Midlands Trains services between Bedford and Luton to St Pancras. At the same time a number of peak Thameslink services will operate a faster service to central London. It has not been possible to consult on these changes as is routinely done. The Department for Transport has given its authorisation for this approach.

Her Majesty’s Passport Office provides an online service where by entering their postcode, customers can find their nearest passport interview office. Find a passport interview office can be found on GOV.UK at the following address:

https://www.gov.uk/passport-interview-office

Minimising the impact upon customers was a key consideration in the decision to close the Luton interview office, with the distance and time for travel to the closest passport interview office in London being in line with many other parts of the UK.

Her Majesty’s Passport Office has conducted 55,064 interviews at the Luton Interview Office since 2012. The table below shows the number of annual passport interviews conducted.

*part year data to 19/11/2017

Her Majesty’s Passport Office do not hold information on how many people in a particular area could be required to attend a passport application interview.