§ Mr. ChurchillTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals, in each of the past five years for which figures are available, have been caught acquiring or having acquired false identities for passport, DSS or other purposes by using official documentation obtained(a) by posing as a deceased person or (b) in any other way; how many false identities are known to have been acquired; and what was the maximum number known to have been acquired by any one individual in each of those years.
§ Mr. Nicholas BakerThe total number of fraudulent passport applications in each of the last five years was:
Total number Number identified by United Kingdom Passport Agency before passport issued 1990 854 671 1991 1,037 569 1992 984 764 1993 1,162 845 1994 1,031 846 These figures represent less than 0.04 per cent passports issued annually.
Separate figures are not available for the number of those applicants who used false identities either by posing as a deceased person or in another way.
Figures for the Department of Social Security's Benefits Agency are available only for the last two financial years. They are: 224W
Total false identities detected Largest number used by one person 1992–93 1,200 not available 1993–94 2,117 250 The figures include multiple identity fraud detected by organised fraud teams. However the total value of multiple identity fraud was less than 1 per cent. of all detected fraud in each of the two years for which figures are available.