§ Sir H. NIELDasked the Home Secretary (1) whether he is aware that an applicant to the Permit Office is subjected to interrogation by a junior official who, on the completion of the examination, refers him to the Foreign Office, without specifying any particular branch thereof, with the result that the applicant may be sent by the Foreign Office to the War Office and by the latter to the Passport Office, where he is in turn required to call again after an interval of three days; (2) whether he is aware that the serious illness of a son in hospital in Holland is 2548W not deemed by the Permit Office to be adequate reason for the grant of a permit to enable his father to visit him, and that the parents are kept in a state of suspense and anxiety while the officials determine by whom the application should be dealt with; and whether, having regard to the improved political outlook, he will direct that existing rules for the granting of passports should be reviewed and revised; and (3) what are the respective functions of the Permit Office in Downing Street, the Department of the Foreign Office for granting the visé to passports, and the Passport Office at 58, Victoria Street; whether he is aware that the existence of these separate offices imposes on members of the public seeking passports at a time of tribulation perplexity and loss of time; and whether he will consider the practicability of grouping the three separate Departments together to secure uniformity of practice and the supply of adequate information with reasonable dispatch?
§ Mr. BRACEPassports andvisas required by British subjects proposing to leave the United Kingdom for any destination are issued by the Passport Office, 59, Victoria Street, which is the only Department of the Foreign Office concerned. A permit from the Permit Office, Downing Street, or one of the branch Permit Offices in the provinces is required by any person, whether British or alien, who desires to proceed from the United Kingdom to Holland, among other countries. The functions of the Passport Office and the Permit Office, though performed in close co-operation, are directed to different objects and could not be combined. I do not think that the public are put to undue delays and difficulties, having regard to the importance of strict control of passenger traffic from this country, and the time has not yet arrived for any such relaxation of the rules as is suggested. In the case which, I think, the hon. and learned Member has in mind, and with regard to which he appears to have been misinformed, the applicant presented himself at the Permit Office with an out-of-date passport and was referred in the usual way to the Passport Department. Renewal of his passport was, I understand, refused by the Passport Office, and a permit was also refused by the Permit Office on the advice of the competent military and other authorities to whom the application was referred. As regards the 2549W reasons given for the proposed visit to Holland, the applicant produced letters from his son there, showing that the doctors at the hospital at which he had attended assured him that his condition gave no cause for anxiety. I am satisfied that the application in question received every consideration and was properly refused.