§ Mr. Gowerasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will set up a passport office in Wales in view of the increase in the number of passports issued to persons resident in the Principality.
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§ Mr. R. A. ButlerNo. I would refer my hon. Friend to the replies given to him by my right hon. and learned Friend the then Foreign Secretary on 27th April, 1953, and by the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary on 1st May, 1957. While there has certainly been a considerable increase in the volume of passport work throughout the United Kingdom, I am satisfied that persons resident in Wales continue to obtain passports as conveniently as residents elsewhere in the United Kingdom. This they may do by personal application to any local office of the Ministry of Labour, through which quite a large percentage of applications are submitted, by application through a travel agency, or by postal application to the Branch Passport Office, Liverpool. In these circumstances, I do not consider that the expense and manpower involved in opening another Branch Passport Office would be justified.
§ Mr. Gowerasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs how many passports were issued during the last 12 months to persons resident in England, Scotland, Wales and Ulster respectively.
§ Mr. R. A. ButlerSeparate records of ordinary passport issue according to the places of residence of applicants are not available.
In the twelve months ended 30th November, 1963, the totals of ordinary passports issued from the three Passport Offices were:—
London 489,824 Liverpool 145,607 Glasgow 51,390 During the same twelve month period, approximately 457,000 British Visitor's Passports were issued by Employment Exchanges throughout the United Kingdom. Of these, over 390,000 were issued in England, over 40,000 in Scotland, over 21,000 in Wales and over 5,000 in Northern Ireland.