Civil Servants: Reduction in Numbers Debate

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Department: Home Office

Civil Servants: Reduction in Numbers

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts
Wednesday 15th June 2022

(2 years, 6 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Baroness Williams of Trafford Portrait Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)
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During lockdown, there was a massive diminution in the number of people applying for passports. Last year, we sent out reminders to people that their passports were going to expire. Unfortunately, that did not result in an increased number of passport applications, but we are currently processing 250,000 passports a week.

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Portrait Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)
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My Lords, may I move to other agencies? At this time of increasing threats, can the Minister give us an absolute assurance that there will be no cuts in the staff of the intelligence agencies?

Baroness Williams of Trafford Portrait Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)
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The security of our people is the number one priority for this Government, and the security and intelligence agencies will have the resources they need to do their job.