HC Deb 01 March 1999 vol 326 c562W
Ms Oona King

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) passports and (b) identity documents purporting to be issued by a member state presented on arrival in the United Kingdom have been the subject of inquiries with the authorities of the member state as to their (i) genuineness and (ii) correct issuance during the period 1 February 1998 to date. [72858]

Mr. Mike O'Brien

Statistics are not kept of the number of such inquiries. Normally, document abuse is identified without the need to refer to the issuing authority. In 1998, 3,478 forged European Union/European Economic Area travel documents were detected at our ports of entry.