§ Mr. PawseyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the number of British passports reported as lost or stolen in 1992; how many were in foreign countries; and what were the figures for each of the preceding five years.
§ Mr. Nicholas BakerPrecise figures for the number of United Kingdom passports lost or stolen are not kept but it is estimated that about 70,000 are reported each year, of which about 20,000 are in foreign countries. A significant number of these passports are expired while a smaller percentage will subsequently be found having been originally misplaced.
Passport issuing within the United Kingdom is now computerised and the system allows the recording of machine-readable passports that have been reported lost or stolen. Arrangements are being considered which would provide the United Kingdom Passport Agency with statistics from the computerised records to monitor the problem.
§ Mr. PawseyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in which countries, other than the United Kingdom, the largest number of British passports were recorded as lost or stolen in 1992–93.
§ Mr. Nicholas BakerFigures provided by British Consulates indicate that Australia with 1,161, the United States with 1,055 and France with 1,025 recorded the highest number of United Kingdom passports reported to them as lost or stolen during 1993.
§ Mr. PawseyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people lost or had more than one passport stolen in 1992–93 in(a) the United Kingdom and (b) elsewhere.
§ Mr. Nicholas BakerNo separate record is kept of the number of persons who have reported more than one passport lost or stolen during a given period.