HC Deb 19 December 1966 vol 738 c187W
78. Mr. Dance

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will issue instructions to the British Consul-General in Tangier not to issue replacement passports to British subjects who report the loss of theirs without first checking with the Moroccan police authorities whether the passport has been confiscated by them pending legal proceedings.

Mrs. White

No.

An applicant for a passport in place of one which has been lost is required to state on the application form for the new passport the circumstances of the loss and whether the matter has been reported to the police. It is an offence under the Criminal Justice Act to make a false declaration to obtain a passport, for example, to conceal the fact that it has been retained by the police.

If the police inform the Consul that a British subject has been charged with an offence, he would not normally issue a fresh passport to such a person.

I am inquiring further into the particular cases which the hon. Member has in mind.