The petition of residents of the constituency of Glasgow North,
Declares that many people in Glasgow North and across the country are experiencing significant delays in the processing of their passport applications by the UK Home Office; further that many are waiting for considerably longer than the advisory 10 week processing time, and that access to premium and expedited services is difficult and does not guarantee the timely processing of an application; and further that as a result many plans for travel have been altered or cancelled, with people missing out on long planned holidays, business opportunities, or visits to family and friends which have not been possible during the years of the pandemic.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to significantly increase the capacity of the Home Office to process passport applications and ensure its commitments to processing times and customer service are met in all possible circumstances.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Patrick Grady, Official Report, 19 July 2022; Vol. 718, c. 6P.]
[P002759]
Observations from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Office (Kevin Foster):
Her Majesty’s Passport Office’s hard-working staff are fully committed to meeting the needs of its customers in response to the current unprecedented demand for passports. Their performance has been strong, with 97.7% of applications being completed within the published processing time of 10 weeks across the first half of this year.
Urgent services are only required where an applicant needs a passport sooner than 10 weeks. For the small proportion of people who have not received their passports within this timeframe, the expedited service is provided at no additional cost to help ensure that they receive their passport ahead of their travel. There are no capacity limits for accessing the expedited service, and no appointments are required.
There are a group of customers who have not received the level of service that they should rightly expect. However, HM Passport Office continues to work hard to ensure that people will get their passports when they need them.
Staffing numbers have been increased by over 1,200 since April 2021. This has delivered the operational capacity needed to process applications in record numbers, at approximately 1 million each month. Recruitment will continue to cover any attrition, to ensure that the passport service remains fully resourced.