§ Mr. Richardasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will take steps to expedite the issue of passports.
§ Mr. William RodgersYes. The Passport Office has taken various steps to that end. But their success will largely depend on the travelling public's readiness to help by submitting their applications in good time and in good order.
In 1966 the Passport Office and its branch offices issued the record number 330W of 980,000 passports. Approximately one application in every four was belatedly submitted, or carelessly completed, or both. In such cases the staff did their utmost to give urgent attention to the applicant; but they could do so only at the cost of unnecessarily long hours, a severe dislocation of their work and, worst of all, much delay and inconvenience to other applicants. It was this state of affairs that compelled the Passport Office to increase from two weeks to three the period of notice that applicants were asked to give.
There are signs that the demand for passports will be even greater this year. If that happens the Passport Office will no longer be able to give special priority to latecomers and will be compelled—except in cases of serious and clear emergency—to deal with all applications strictly in the order in which they are received.