§ Ms. JowellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passports are lost each year when submitted for revision of name or other details to the Passport Agency.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the chief executive of the United Kingdom Passport Agency. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from J. Hayzelden to Ms. Tessa Jowell, dated 30 October 1992:
PASSPORTS
The Home Secretary has asked me to write to you in response to your Parliamentary Question about passports submitted to the Passport Agency for revision of name or other details.
The UK Passport Agency issues over 3 million new or replacement passports each year. In addition, over 250,000 passports are submitted for a change of name or the addition of children's names. Most of these new, replacement or amended passports are sent out by post, although there is a facility for customers to collect their completed passports in person if this is more convenient.
It is very rare for a passport that has been submitted for a name change to be lost in the Passport Office, though some do go astray in the post. For that reason, we do not keep separate statistics. I am aware of a particular problem that arose in relation to one of your constituents on which you are in correspondence with the London Passport Office. We are naturally keen to ensure that such problems do not arise in future. We have impressed on all staff the importance of document security, both from the point of view of customer service and the prevention of passport fraud.