§ Mr. StunellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he plans to reduce waiting times for passport applications; and if he will make a statement. [83138]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienTo meet its customers' needs the Passport Agency is now prioritising applications by customers' declared travel dates. Its secondary standard of service target is to give priority to customers' travel needs aiming to meet their declared travel dates for at least 99.99 per cent. of passports issued. The Agency is meeting this target and will continue to do so.
The Agency's aim is to reduce turnround times in all the six regional passport offices to its target of ten days by September and in the meantime to meet customers' declared travel needs. It will do this by injecting additional resources, through system improvements and clear messages to passport applicants on how they can best assist the Agency to meet their needs.
§ Mr. StunellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) new applications and (b) applications for renewal of United Kingdom passports were received in each month since January 1998; how many unprocessed applications there were at the end of each month; and if he will make a statement. [83137]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienInformation on new and renewal applications and on unprocessed applications is shown in the table.
Month New Renewal Work in Progress January 1998 179,812 210,465 118,983 February 1998 205,613 221,535 139,879 March 1998 233,839 223,772 168,064 April 1998 192,314 167,118 136,174 May 1998 268,357 202,910 184,505 June 1998 245,467 176,988 204,589 July 1998 233,388 168,073 190,857 August 1998 230,835 179,665 101,300 September 1998 138,630 109,215 86,848 October 1998 125,315 99,087 53,652 November 1998 145,815 117,807 77,423 December 1998 90,208 74,731 61,396 January 1999 166,995 172,346 129,778 February 1999 208,906 188,515 210,292 March 1999 294,787 239,533 222,631 The Passport Agency has encountered a number of operational problems arising from the introduction of new high technology driven passport issuing arrangements into its Liverpool and Newport passport offices. This has caused delays in the processing of non-urgent applications and has increased the backlog of unprocessed work.
To meet its customers' needs the Passport Agency is now prioritising applications by customers' declared travel dates. Its secondary standard of service target is to give priority to customers' travel needs aiming to meet 371W their declared travel dates for at least 99.99 per cent. of passports issued. The Agency is meeting this target and will continue to do so.
The Agency's aim is to reduce turnround times in all the six regional passport offices to its target of 10 days by September and in the meantime to meet customers' declared travel needs. It will do this by injecting additional resources, through system improvements and clear messages to passport applicants on how they can best assist the Agency to meet their needs.