Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the attrition rate of (a) permanent, (b) full-time equivalent, (c) agency and (d) other staff in HM Passport Office was for the period between 1 April 2021 and 31 December 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
This data is not held in a reportable format. However, HM Passport Office staffing numbers have been increased over 1200 since April 2021.
This has delivered the operational capacity needed to process applications in record numbers, at approximately one million each month.
HM Passport Office will continue to recruit in order to cover staff leaving, ensuring it remains fully resourced.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the attrition rate of (a) permanent, (b) full-time equivalent, (c) agency and (d) other staff in HM Passport Office was for the period between 1 January 2022 and 31 March 2022.
Answered by Kevin Foster
This data is not held in a reportable format. However, HM Passport Office staffing numbers have been increased over 1200 since April 2021.
This has delivered the operational capacity needed to process applications in record numbers, at approximately one million each month.
HM Passport Office will continue to recruit to cover staff leaving, ensuring it remains fully resourced.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) permanent, (b) full-time equivalent, (c) agency and (d) other staff were recruited to HM Passport Office in the period between 1 April 2021 and 31 December 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Staffing numbers at Her Majesty’s Passport Office have increased by over 1200 since April 2021. Its recruitment will continue to cover any attrition, ensuring the passport service remains fully resourced.
We are committed to ensuring public services are run as efficiently and effectively as possible. Given elevated demand will not continue indefinitely, it would be inappropriate to increase resources on a permanent basis. Therefore, while there has been some recruitment of civil servants, most of these additional staff have been agency workers.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the attrition rate was for (a) permanent, (b) fixed-term, (c) agency and (d) other staff in HM Passport Office in the period between 1 April 2022 and 21 July 2022.
Answered by Kevin Foster
This data is not held in a reportable format. However, HM Passport Office staffing numbers have been increased over 1200 since April 2021.
This has delivered the operational capacity needed to process applications in record numbers, at approximately one million each month.
HM Passport Office will continue to recruit to cover staff leaving, ensuring it remains fully resourced.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the end date for using the Application Management System at HM Passport Office.
Answered by Kevin Foster
HM Passport Office forecasts that the Application Management System will be decommissioned five months after Digital Application Processing becomes the sole passport processing system.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the (a) timeline and (b) final implementation date is for Digital Application Processing at HM Passport Office to be fully functional.
Answered by Kevin Foster
HM Passport Office have transitioned 75-85% of applications to the new Digital Application Processing service and will iteratively transition the remainder as new capability is developed and business changes can be implemented.
Plans are based on a balance of the pace of development, the operational ability to manage the magnitude or frequency of change, and the necessity of maintaining service stability under exceptional levels of demand.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the PCS press notice of 26 April 2022 on passport services, how many new staff have been recruited by HM Passport Office in the last two years; and what proportion of those new staff are agency staff.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Staffing numbers at Her Majesty’s Passport Office have increased by over 1200 since April 2021. Its recruitment will continue to cover any attrition, to ensure that the passport service remains fully resourced.
We are committed to ensuring public services are run as efficiently and effectively as possible. Given elevated demand will not continue indefinitely, it is appropriate to have flexible resources available. Therefore, while there has been some recruitment of civil servants, the use of agency workers is appropriate in this context.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to Answer of 16 June 2022 to Question 15396 on Passports, whether her Department holds a weekly breakdown of data between March and May 2022 on the processing times of UK passport (a) applications and (b) renewals.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Since April 2021, people applying for a passport have been advised to allow up to ten weeks when applying for their British passport as more than 5 million people delayed applying due to the pandemic. This guidance is in place for all applications from the UK, including those for a first British passport and renewals.
Between March and May 98.5% of UK applications processed were completed within ten weeks.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to Answers of 8 June 2022 to Questions 10035 to10038, whether her Department holds weekly data on the processing times of UK passport (a) applications and (b) renewals.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Since April 2021, people have been advised to allow up to ten weeks when applying for their British passport as more than 5 million people delayed applying due to the pandemic.
Between March and May 2022, over 90% of applications processed were completed within six weeks, with approximately 98.5% completed within ten weeks.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of UK passport (a) applications and (b) renewals submitted in the week beginning 28 March 2022 were processed within 10 weeks by HM Passport Office.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Since April 2021, people have been advised to allow up to ten weeks when applying for their British passport as more than 5 million people delayed applying due to the pandemic. 98.6% of all passport applications continue to be dealt with well within 10 weeks.
A British passport cannot be issued until all checks are satisfactorily completed to confirm the applicant is entitled to one. If further information is required to enable an application to be progressed, then it will take longer.