Asked by: Jenny Willott (Liberal Democrat - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much revenue his Department has generated through the processing and issuing of temporary passports overseas to British nationals who had lost or had their passports stolen whilst abroad in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Duddridge
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office issues two travel documents – Emergency Travel Documents (ETDs) which allow for travel up to a maximum of five countries and Emergency Passports (EPs) which are used primarily in the event of a crisis. These travel documents are issued to British nationals who are overseas and whose passport is lost, stolen, damaged, has expired or is otherwise unavailable and who have a requirement to travel before a replacement passport is available. The total income from ETDs and EPs in the last five financial years is shown below. This cannot be accurately broken down by the reason why a travel document was issued.
| Financial Year | Total Income |
| 2014-15 (as of 24 Mar 2015) | £3,481,866.30 |
| 2013-14 | £3,283,015.79 |
| 2012-13 | £2,810,021.69 |
| 2011-12 | £2,855,322.55 |
| 2010-11 | £1,739,616.52 |
The cost of consular services is not subsidised by the UK taxpayer. The charges for services we provide, such as ETDs, are calculated to cover the full cost of the consular operation globally.
Asked by: Jenny Willott (Liberal Democrat - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many temporary passports were issued overseas to British nationals who had lost or had their passports stolen whilst abroad in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Duddridge
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) can issue Emergency Travel Documents (ETDs) to British national overseas if their passport has been lost, stolen, damaged, has expired or is otherwise unavailable. A breakdown of ETDs issued by the FCO over the last five years for lost/stolen passports is below, as well as the complete figure.
| Year | ETDs issued for Lost/Stolen Passports (Global) | Total number of ETDs issued |
| 2014 | 19,400 | 39,053 |
| 2013 | 18,069 | 30,006 |
| 2012 | 17,298 | 28,880 |
| 2011 | No data available | 27,467 |
| 2010 | No data available | 14,367 |
Asked by: Jenny Willott (Liberal Democrat - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many temporary passports were issued by the British authorities in Spain to British nationals who had lost or had their passports stolen in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Duddridge
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) can issue Emergency Travel Documents (ETDs) to British national overseas if their passport has been lost, stolen, damaged, has expired or is otherwise unavailable. A breakdown of ETDs issued in Spain over the last five years is in the table below.
| Year | ETDs issued for Lost/Stolen Passports (Spain) | ETDs issued for all reasons (Spain) |
| 2014 | 5,028 | 6,373 |
| 2013 | 5,058 | 5,924 |
| 2012 | 5,180 | 6,029 |
| 2011 | No data available | 5,323 |
| 2010 | No data available | 4,198* |
(*from March 2010 – Dec 2010)
Asked by: Jenny Willott (Liberal Democrat - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of safety deposit boxes across the UK; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The Home Office does not have an estimate of the numbers of safety deposit boxes available across the United Kingdom, and we have not had any discussions on this matter.
However, the Crime Prevention Panel, which is chaired by myself and supported by Home Office officials, has been looking at the safe storage of gold jewellery and other valuable items, both in people’s homes and in external
storage facilities.
Asked by: Jenny Willott (Liberal Democrat - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with (a) banks, (b) solicitors and (c) other providers on the availability of safety deposit boxes across the UK; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The Home Office does not have an estimate of the numbers of safety deposit boxes available across the United Kingdom, and we have not had any discussions on this matter.
However, the Crime Prevention Panel, which is chaired by myself and supported by Home Office officials, has been looking at the safe storage of gold jewellery and other valuable items, both in people’s homes and in external
storage facilities.
Asked by: Jenny Willott (Liberal Democrat - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with suppliers of safety deposit facilities on ensuring that the annual cost of hiring and using such facilities is kept at a reasonable level; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The Home Office does not have an estimate of the numbers of safety deposit boxes available across the United Kingdom, and we have not had any discussions on this matter.
However, the Crime Prevention Panel, which is chaired by myself and supported by Home Office officials, has been looking at the safe storage of gold jewellery and other valuable items, both in people’s homes and in external
storage facilities.
Asked by: Jenny Willott (Liberal Democrat - Cardiff Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he has taken to reduce tax avoidance in the UK.
Answered by David Gauke
I refer you to my earlier answer to the question asked by the Member for Stevenage (Stephen McPartland).
Asked by: Jenny Willott (Liberal Democrat - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with police forces on the effects on burglary rates of the number of safety deposit boxes available to the public.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The Home Office has not held discussions with police forces on the possible effect on burglary rates arising from the availability of safety deposit boxes.
However, the Crime Prevention Panel that we established in March this year, which brings together a range of experts to identify new ideas for preventing crime, is looking at issues around the safe storage of gold jewellery and other valuable items, both in people’s homes and in external storage facilities. We expect the findings from this work to be available in early 2015.