§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many passports submitted with driving licence applications have been lost by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in the last three years; and how much compensation has been paid by the DVLA in relation to this. [125454]
§ Mr. Hill[holding answer 12 June 2000]Since April 1999, when customers had to provide original identity documents with their photocard driving licence applications, the DVLA has reimbursed the replacement cost of 682 identity documents, of which 417 were passports, at a total cost of £17,000.
Of these cases Royal Mail accepted Responsibility for the loss of 487 documents and have reimbursed DVLA accordingly. In this same period DVLA has issued over 4 million photocard licences.