§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will implement the recommendations of the Rayner efficiency scrutiny report to increase the number of staff working in the passport office by a minimum of 326.
§ Mr. RentonNo such recommendation appears in the report of the 1982 Rayner scrutiny of the Passport Office. The trade union's claim for 326 additional permanent staff derives from an outdated formula for matching staff resources to peaks in demand. This bears no relevance to present-day requirements, particularly in the light of computerisation. Staffing levels at the United Kingdom passport offices are closely monitored, and have in general kept in step with the increasing demand for passports. Officials are in consultation with the trade unions about them.
§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the increase of the number of staff working in the passport offices in(a) Scotland, (b) Glasgow, and (c) Edinburgh, for each year since 1982.
§ Mr. RentonThe information for the Glasgow passport office, which is the only one in Scotland, is given in the table.
Year Staff Complement Staff in Post (At 1 April) Permanent Casual Total 1982 90 85 14 99 1983 89 89 11 100 1984 183 85 6 91 1985 83 79 9 88 1986 83 83 11 94 1987 83 84 9 93 1988 83 82.5 21 103.5 1 Six posts transferred to Belfast in June 1983 together with work on postal applications from Northern Ireland. The recently computerised Glasgow office is gradually taking on the work of dealing with postal applications from the London area and by mid-1989 its complement will have increased by some 100 posts.