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Her Majesty's Passport Office House of Commons Home Affairs Committee Her Majesty’s Passport Office: delays in processing applications Fourth Report of Session 2014–15 Report, together with formal minutes relating to the report Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 3 September 2014 HC 238 Published on 16 September 2014 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited Home Affairs Committee The Home Affairs Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Home Office and its associated public bodies. Current membership Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP (Labour, Leicester East) (Chair) Ian Austin MP (Labour, Dudley North) Nicola Blackwood MP (Conservative, Oxford West and Abingdon) James Clappison MP (Conservative, Hertsmere) Michael Ellis MP (Conservative, Northampton North) Paul Flynn MP (Labour, Newport West) Lorraine Fullbrook MP (Conservative, South Ribble) Dr Julian Huppert MP (Liberal Democrat, Cambridge) Yasmin Qureshi MP (Labour, Bolton South East) Mark Reckless MP (Conservative, Rochester and Strood) Mr David Winnick MP (Labour, Walsall North) The following were also members of the Committee during the Parliament. Rt Hon Alun Michael (Labour & Co-operative, Cardiff South and Penarth) Karl Turner MP (Labour, Kingston upon Hull East) Steve McCabe MP (Labour, Birmingham Selly Oak) Bridget Phillipson MP (Labour, Houghton and Sunderland South) Chris Ruane MP (Labour, Vale of Clwyd) Powers The Committee is one of the departmental select committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No 152. These are available on the Internet via www.parliament.uk Publication The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the Internet at www.parliament.uk/homeaffairscom Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Tom Healey (Clerk), John-Paul Flaherty (Second Clerk), Dr Ruth Martin (Committee Specialist), Duma Langton (Committee Specialist), Andy Boyd (Senior Committee Assistant), Iwona Hankin (Committee Assistant) and Alex Paterson (Select Committee Media Officer). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Home Affairs Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 2049; the Committee’s email address is [email protected] Her Majesty’s Passport Office: delays in processing applications 3 Contents Report Page Key facts 5 1 Introduction 6 The UK passport 6 Her Majesty’s Passport Office 6 How delays became apparent 7 2 The emergence of a ‘backlog’ 9 3 Ministerial and managerial response 13 Contingency measures 13 Late reaction and communication with Ministers 13 Disparity in the service to the public and to MPs 14 Proposed relaxation of security checks 16 Compensation, and upgrading to a fast-track application 16 Twelve-month extension and emergency travel documents for children 18 Prioritising the backlog of applications 18 Advice on the HMPO website 19 Redeployment of staff 19 Reviews to be undertaken 20 4 Offices and staffing 21 Staffing resources 21 Office closures and staff reductions 21 Identity cards and the National Identity Service 22 Staff numbers as at June 2014 22 Overtime 23 Management relations with PCS union, and the prospect of a strike 25 5 Applications from overseas 27 The decision to move the processing of overseas applications to the UK 27 The impact on HMPO 28 Interaction with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office 29 6 Forecasting the level of demand 31 7 Operating costs, revenue and surplus 32 Contractors 33 Conclusions and Recommendations 34 The emergence of a ‘backlog’ 34 Ministerial and managerial response 35 Offices and staffing 36 4 Her Majesty’s Passport Office: delays in processing applications Applications from overseas 37 Forecasting the level of demand 38 Operating costs, revenue and surplus 38 Annex A: Passport Office: UK operations 39 Annex B: Number of British Citizens living overseas 40 Formal Minutes 43 Witnesses 44 Published written evidence 45 List of Reports from the Committee during the current Parliament 46 Her Majesty’s Passport Office: delays in processing applications 5 Key facts • Fee charged for normal passport application service: £72.50 • Unit cost of processing a passport application in 2013-14: £57.71 • Peak level of work in progress: 537,663 (22 June 2014) • Estimated number of passport applications from British nationals overseas: 390,000 annually • Full time equivalent staff in March 2010: 4,017.52 • Full time equivalent staff in May 2014: 3,506.36 (NB not directly comparable) • Total overtime cost for January to May 2014: £3,198,847 6 Her Majesty’s Passport Office: delays in processing applications 1 Introduction The UK passport 1. The UK passport is of prime importance as a travel document, but also as important indicator and confirmation of an individual’s identity, a fact recently reiterated by the Chief Executive of Her Majesty’s Passport Office, Paul Pugh.1 The Minister for Security and Immigration, James Brokenshire MP, referred to passports as “not just dry official documents. They are the key to once-in-a-lifetime trips, eagerly anticipated holidays and visits to loved ones”.2 It is also a gateway document, providing the bearer with access to a variety of benefits and services in the United Kingdom. 2. Because the UK passport is of such importance, it has very sophisticated design features. Paul Pugh stated that, in terms of security, the UK passport and its associated processes were recognised as some of the most secure in the world. 3 He added that the benefit of this was that British passport holders have access without visa or additional checks to more countries than virtually any other citizen of any other country. Her Majesty’s Passport Office 3. Applications for a passport are administered by Her Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO). This executive agency of the Home Office was established on 13 May 2013. Formerly the Identity and Passport Service, HMPO carries out two functions: providing passport services to UK nationals, and overseeing civil registration of births, deaths and marriages in England and Wales. In the most recent Annual Report, Paul Pugh stated, “we have an important role to play in supporting the Home Office’s priorities, including public protection, reducing the impact and likelihood of identity crime and preventing terrorism. We are very proud of our reputation for customer service standards and integrity”.4 4. The new HMPO was designed to make the service more easily recognisable to British citizens and the agency changed its name to reflect its changing role (following the cancellation of identity cards in 2011)5 and official status. At the time the then Immigration Minister, Mark Harper MP, said that the inclusion of ‘Her Majesty’s’ in the title recognised that passports are the property of the Crown, bear the Royal Coat of Arms and are issued under the Royal Prerogative. He added that “The new name of ‘HM Passport Office’ reflects the fact that the organisation is no longer responsible for government policy on 1 Q 87 2 HC Deb, 10 June 2014, col 522 3 Q 155 4 Identity and Passport Service, Annual Report and Accounts 2012-2013, July 2013, p 5 5 Identity Documents Act 2010 Her Majesty’s Passport Office: delays in processing applications 7 identity but continues to provide a gold-plated passport service to British nationals in the UK and abroad.”6 How delays became apparent 5. At the beginning of June 2014, three months after Paul Pugh’s tenure as Chief Executive had been confirmed, it became apparent that there were delays in the processing of passport applications. This was an issue about which Members from all sides of the House were being contacted with increasing regularity. One Member said that he had had nine times as many cases that involve passports in the first two weeks of June 2014 as in his previous nine years as an MP.7 6. The Committee has also received a large amount of correspondence from members of the public who are concerned about the delays in the Passport Office. For example: I wish to make you aware of my plight and the lack of clarity that has been provided to both me and other people in similar positions to ours. I am sure that you will be getting lot of complaints around the poor process, lack of staff and a reckless move of the government to close all overseas passport centres. I read with interest that the Passport Office will be appearing to explain its performance before the Home Affairs Select Committee. As [an overseas applicant], I contend the new application process is simply not fit for purpose. I thought I would send you an example of sadly what I believe is currently the typical experience of overseas passport renewal. I am basing my assumption on my personal experience but also the stories I have read on multiple Internet forums such as Trip advisor and Mumsnet. Whilst one usually is loath to indulge anecdotal evidence the sheer numbers seem astounding … It might interest you to know that Australian news is currently reporting this UK bureaucratic disaster. 7. When Paul Pugh appeared before the Committee on 17 June, we presented him with the correspondence we had received. We also offered him the opportunity to apologise to all those members of the public who had been made to wait due to the poor level of service at HMPO. Mr Pugh said: I absolutely, Chair, recognise the anger and distress that some people have suffered and I would like to put on record, yes, that in every case where we 6 “Introducing HM Passport Office”, HM Passport Office press release, 13 May 2013 7 HC Deb, 18 June 2014, col 1159 [Mr Robert Flello] 8 Her Majesty’s Passport Office: delays in processing applications have not met our service standards, where we have not been able to meet the customer’s need, yes, certainly, we are sorry for that.8 8 Q 87 Her Majesty’s Passport Office: delays in processing applications 9 2 The emergence of a ‘backlog’ 8.
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