§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passports sent to applicants by mail went missing in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [163203]
§ Mr. BrowneThe information recorded in each year since 1997 is as follows:
- 1997—not available
- 1998—not available
- 1999–2,359
- 2000–3,851
- 2001–2,541
- 2002–2,982
- 2003–3,593.
1108W
Original security category of sentenced receptions of adult males in prisons in England and Wales England A B C D Unrecorded January 2003 5 236 3,370 554 467 February 2003 4 236 3,304 533 417 March 2003 3 247 3,445 603 481 April 2003 4 231 3,097 653 511 May 2003 3 228 3,272 647 500 June 2003 6 237 3,327 682 464 July 2003 11 227 3,713 674 612 August 2003 7 169 3,118 518 473 September 2003 1 181 3,502 734 548 October 2003 2 231 3,696 728 510 November 2003 2 202 3,307 582 508 December 2003 6 180 2,937 485 709 January 2004 3 174 3,499 650 550 February 2004 2 216 3,660 625 608 March 2004 1 200 3,716 630 762 Wales January 2003 0 1 139 23 39 February 2003 0 2 126 39 35 March 2003 0 3 144 31 22 April 2003 0 3 145 29 29 May 2003 0 5 139 39 29 June 2003 0 2 150 36 27 July 2003 0 1 164 42 37 August 2003 0 0 108 32 25 September 2003 0 2 135 34 29 October 2003 0 5 165 46 42 The United Kingdom Passport Service has now addressed this continuing need to increase the security of passports delivered through the postal system by switching to use secure courier. The staged implementation of these new arrangements started on 9 February and was fully in place as of 15 March 2004.