To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) funding and (b) staff resources have been allocated to the 44 (0)2475 389980 number for non-UK passport holders in Afghanistan since it opened.
Answered on
24 September 2021
Funding has been put in place to manage the contact to the helpline and facilitate the set up and staffing to manage this line. The volumes have been closely monitored in line with staffing and we are working on the final funding for this.
The department continue to closely monitor and review the volume of calls being made to the helpline; as the volumes have significantly reduced over the period since the line opened we have reviewed staffing in line with requirements. At its peak the line had up to 500 FTE staff available to be deployed.