§ Mr. LordTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress is being made towards improving the time taken to process passport applications at United Kingdom passport offices; what is the current processing time; what was the processing time in July 1987; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RentonGood progress is being made towards reducing the time taken to issue passports in response to non-urgent postal applications. The current processing times, compared with those for the corresponding week of 1987, are shown in the table below. Urgent applications are given priority wherever possible and are not normally subject to delay.
Passport Office Average time taken between receipt of application and dispatch of passport (working days) 17 July 1988 19 July 1987 London 24 60 Glasgow 11 50 Peterborough 29 24 Newport 20 52 Liverpool 12 37 Belfast1 3 3 1 The Belfast Office is by far the smallest. The special measures which I announced on 31 March in answer to a question from the hon. Member for Skipton and Ripon (Mr. Curry) at column 679 have helped to improve performance during the present period of peak demand. These measures will remain in force and, in addition, blocks of postal applications are being transferred on a regular basis from the hardest pressed offices to those where processing times are shorter.
§ Mr. LordTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress is being made with computerisation of the United Kingdom passport offices and the introduction of a new form of British passport; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RentonOn 24 July 1984 at columns 219–20 my right hon. and learned Friend the then Home Secretary, announced the Government's plans for computerisation of passport issuing and changes in the format of the British passport. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary announced on 11 February 1987 at columns 218–19 that these changes would take effect from this July.
574WThe travelling public, including business travellers, will benefit substantially from these changes. As computerisation of passport offices progresses the issue of new passports will be much improved. As machine readable passports become more widely used throughout the world, this will become an advantage for holders of the new style British passports. Sharing a common format of passport with other European Countries will also help to simplify formalities at frontier controls throughout the European Community.
The passport office in Glasgow will be the first of the United Kingdom passport offices to be computerised. The equipment has been installed and the first of the new United Kingdom passports will be issued in mid-August after the system has been tested and staff have been trained in its use. Over a six month period starting this October, the computerised Glasgow office will take over the processing of postal applications currently handled by the London passport office. By the end of 1989, all six passport offices in the United Kingdom should be computerised and issuing United Kingdom passports in the new format.
The new passport has a machine-readable page designed to reduce delays at frontier controls. Passports which include the particulars of a wife or husband cannot be issued in machine-readable form and are being discontinued, although children can still be included. Accordingly, the redesigned and simplified passport application forms, which will replace existing stocks of forms at Post Offices throughout the United Kingdom at the end of this month, in preparation for the change to computerisation, will contain no provision for passports with the holder's spouse included. However, valid applications for these passports made on the old forms will be accepted for a short period after the new forms are introduced.
I have placed in the Library the latest pre-production samples of the new passport and of the similar form of passport that will be issued to those British nationals who do not have rights of free movement, employment and establishment within the European Community.