§ Mr. Gerald HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 7 February 2001,Official Report, column 606W, on passport fraud, in how many cases of fraudulent issuing of British passports his Department's staff were involved. [151357]
§ Mrs. RocheThe statistics provided in my answer of 7 February 2001,Official Report, column 606W, on passport fraud related to customer frauds only and did not include cases in which members of staff were complicit.
From 1991 to 2000, eight members of Passport Agency staff were convicted for fraudulently issuing passports. A further five members of staff were subject to internal disciplinary procedures as a result of their involvement in passport fraud. The Passport Agency's records indicate that these cases involved the fraudulent issue of 117 passports in total.