A surge in work-permit approvals emerged in figures provided in the House of Assembly for September through November.

Work-permits applications suffered a backlog earlier this year, and the minister in charge switched on November 1 in a Cabinet reshuffle.

Walton Brown, now the Minister for the Cabinet Office, had covered immigration as the Minister of Home Affairs.

The responsibility for work permits was transferred to the national security portfolio, held by Wayne Caines as part of the Cabinet changes.

MPs heard in Parliament last month that Mr Caines was “aggressively tackling” a backlog in work permits.

On Friday, Mr Caines gave MPs figures for one to five-year work permits granted from September to November — a total of 1,350.

The numbers of permits in the category more than doubled over the three months.

There were 273 approved in September, 480 in October and 597 in November.

Permits were also broken down by category, with the highest number for short-term permits.

The total number of work permits approved between September and November was 2,205.

There were 538 granted in September, 836 in October and 831 in November.

Mr Caines was speaking after parliamentary questions from Sylvan Richards, the Shadow Minister of Home Affairs.

The details came as David Burt, the Premier, deferred answers to two written questions from the Opposition.

Craig Cannonier, the Opposition leader, requested the number of jobs created by the incorporation of 44 fintech companies, along with job titles and numbers of Bermudians employed.

Michael Dunkley, a One Bermuda Alliance backbencher, also requested travel details for trips paid out of the consolidated fund by government MPs and senators between July 19, 2017 and November 23, 2018.

Mr Burt was allowed under House standing orders to defer the answers.