Parliamentary and T 020 7752 7362 Correspondence E [email protected] Management Team www.gov.uk 4th Floor, Peel, SE SW1P 4DF

L Turnbull [email protected]

Reference: FOICR 27828/13

5 July 2013

Dear L Turnbull

FREEDOM OF INFOMRATION REQUEST

Thank you for your e-mail of 4 June, in which you ask for information about the funding of Her Majesty’s Passport Office. Your request has been handled as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your questions and Her Majesty’s Passport Office responses are set out below.

Request

Please tell me the sources of funding for your organisation.

Is it tax-financed?

Response

HM Passport Office provides passport services to UK nationals, funded largely from customer fees, and also oversees civil registration in England and Wales, through the (GRO).

Since 2006 all passport fee income has been classified as a tax by the Office for National Statistics, who have ultimate authority for the classification of Government receipts for National Accounts purposes. We have an agreement with HM Treasury whereby we are able to retain the passport fee to fund the running of the service and have to agree any changes to our fees with HM Treasury.

Passport Adviceline: 0300 222 0000 Email us at [email protected]. Visit our website at www.gov.uk GRO statutory services and HM Passport Office capital investment are funded centrally by the , so are funded through taxation.

Our income from GRO sales of duplicate certificates is treated as fee income and not a tax receipt.

In keeping with the Freedom of Information Act, we assume that all information can be released to the public unless it is exempt. In line with normal practice we are therefore releasing the information which you requested via the Home Office website.

I hope that this information meets your requirements. I would like to assure you that we have provided you with all relevant information that the Home Office holds.

If you are dissatisfied with this response you may request an independent internal review of our handling of your request by submitting a complaint within two months to the address below, quoting reference FOICR 27828/13. If you ask for an internal review, it would be helpful if you could say why you are dissatisfied with the response.

Information Access Team Home Office Ground Floor, Seacole Building 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF e-mail: [email protected]

As part of any internal review the Department's handling of your information request will be reassessed by staff who were not involved in providing you with this response. If you remain dissatisfied after this internal review, you would have a right of complaint to the Information Commissioner as established by section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act.

Yours sincerely

H Reid Parliamentary and Correspondence Management Team

Passport Adviceline: 0300 222 0000 Email us at [email protected]. Visit our website at www.gov.uk