§ Mr. KidneyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason the UK Passport Agency ended the service available at main post offices for processing urgent applications for passports. [108587]
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§ Mrs. RocheThe Passport Agency's partnership arrangement with Post Office Counters Limited, entered into in January 1996, provided a facility for applications marked as urgent to be processed within a minimum of four working days. The service proved very difficult to operate and the urgency of the applications was not always clear. When the Agency re-tendered the partnership arrangements late in 1999, the specification was for a guaranteed 10 day service for customers applying via a partner. The Agency believes this is the best way to meet its customers needs. Final negotiations are currently taking place with Post Office Counters Limited on the new arrangements, but the Agency considered it sensible to implement the standard 10 day turnaround now.
The Agency is planning to introduce a "Fast Track" five day service via the Post Office from December 2000.
§ Mr. KidneyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what length of time in future the UK Passport Agency will take to process standard passport applications received via the Post Office's special service whereby applications are checked for common errors and forwarded by secure post. [108588]
§ Mrs. RocheThe Passport Agency aims to process all straightforward and complete applications received from their partners, Post Office Counters Limited and Worldchoice Travel Agents, within 10 working days. This target will continue to apply in the future.