§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which(a) private companies and (b) Government Departments have taken part in the UK Passport Service's Personal Identification Project; which databases were used in the exercise; and how the scheme is being evaluated. [173175]
§ Mr. BrowneTwo private companies have been involved in the trials. These are Experian in 2001 and Equifax from 2002 to date. The databases used are:
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- Electoral roll
- County court data within the public domain
- Linked addresses (Equifax)
- Date of birth validation (Equifax)
- Previous searches (Equifax)
- INSIGHT for ID verification (Equifax)
- Thompson Data (Business telephone directory)
- Companies House data
- BAGS
- BT 192 Database.
Three Government Departments are working with the UK Passport Service in this project:
DVLA to verify driving licence details submitted against current records held on the drivers record;DWP to verify national insurance numbers submitted against current DWP records;IND to verify Naturalisation Certificates submitted against lists of valid certificates.No data is returned from these systems, only confirmation of the accuracy of data supplied.
The current trials are assessing the potential benefits to applicants and UKPS in terms of customer service against security of identity. Statistics are being gathered to show the impact in both these areas.
§ Mr. WareingTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passports have been lost or mislaid by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate since 31 January; and if he will make a statement. [173023]
§ Mr. Browne[holding answer 17 May 2004]For the period 1 February 2004 to 30 April 2004, a total of 169 letters have been issued for passports reported lost or mislaid in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. For the same period last year, 185 letters were issued. This represents a drop of 9 per cent.