Joint Passports (Children) (Hansard, 9 February 1983)

§ 12. Mrs. Faith
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will seek powers to compel the surrender of any joint passport which includes a child who has become the subject of a custody order made by a divorce court.

§ Mr. Hurd
No. The courts already require the surrender of any passport if they have reason to believe that a parent intends to use it to take a child out of their jurisdiction in contravention of a court order. A parent awarded custody of a child by order of a court can enter a caveat with the passport office against the child being granted passport facilities without its parents' or the court's consent.

§ Mrs. Faith
I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. However, if that is the case, and in view of the number of children who are being abducted, many of whom are taken abroad, should not the whole matter of joint passports be re-examined? If a child had its own passport, it could be given to the parent who is awarded custody.

§ Mr. Hurd
We have been considering the general subject carefully, and there was a debate on it at breakfast time yesterday in the House. It would be difficult and complicated for individuals if we introduced the change that my hon. Friend suggests, but we do not have closed minds about ways of making it more difficult for those distressing cases of abduction to occur.

§ Mr. Cryer
Does the Minister accept that the caveat system and administrative arrangements are not working, and that even solicitors are unaware of the possible application of the caveat system? Will he re-examine the system with a view to either greater publicity or more stringency to stop the kidnapping of children, which is causing many harrowing cases? Will he consider the possibility of having witnesses to the signature of parents, where the child is in custody, to diminish the possibility of fraudulent signatures being used to obtain passports to take children out of the country?

§ Mr. Hurd
I should like to consider that last suggestion. The caveat system is publicised through the Law Society and citizens' advice bureaux. There would be a real difficulty in following up the suggestion in the original question as there are 150,000 decrees nisi or judicial separations each year, 60 per cent. of which include minors. It would not be possible to compel the surrender of joint passports.