Dear Home Office,

Please treat the following as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Several job advertisements for Entry Clearance Officers at various posts make reference to an Entry Clearance Officer Course, which successful applicants will be expected to undertake (for example, reference is made to this course here: https://fco.tal.net/vx/mobile-0/appcentr...)

With respect to this course, please disclose the following information:
- What is the duration of the course (in hours / days)
- If a training manual for this course exists (for example, as a Word/PDF document or presentation), how long is this? (in pages / slides)
- Of the entire course, how much time/space is allocated to training potential ECOs in making decisions under GEN.3.2 and GEN.3.3 of Appendix FM, namely for conducting full Article 8 considerations under Appendix FM (applications that prior to July 2017 it would have been mandatory to refer to the Referred Casework Unit). Please specify, if possible, the amount of time allocated in the course design to this area of decision-making, and how much of the course material (i.e. how many pages / slides) are dedicated to it.

Yours faithfully,

Mary Atkinson

Dear Home Office,

Many thanks for getting in touch with this request for clarification. My request does indeed relate to the entry clearance training that is currently given to ECOs. As you state in the request, I am seeking information about the training given to ECOs regarding family applications under Appendix FM.

If you could disclose the proportion of the current training on applications under this immigration route that is given over to Article 8 assessments (under GEN.3.2. and GEN.3.3. of the Immigration Rules), I would be very grateful. Please also disclose the total amount of time given in current training to ECOs to family applications under Appendix FM.

Yours faithfully,

Mary Atkinson