Asked by: Nick Fletcher (Conservative - Don Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the time taken to process passport applications and tackle the current backlog.
Answered by Kevin Foster
HM Passport Office continues to operate at a small percentage of its usual staffing levels so its people can continue to socially distance while on site in line with public health guidance, yet it has been rapidly acquiring additional office space, and since 23 March has so far added 172 COVID-secure desks.
Additionally, HM Passport Office is part way through developing a new system which digitises applications, including the supporting documentation, which will substantially increase the ability of staff to process applications from home. Currently, about 40% of passport applications are being processed through this system and, for those simplest cases where checks upon the application can be fully completed with minimal manual intervention, they are being processed quickly.
Asked by: Nick Fletcher (Conservative - Don Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department is making on its paper on group-based child sexual exploitation.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Home Secretary has expressed her determination to ensure failures of the past are not repeated and to do all we can to bear down on offenders and support victims. That is why on 19th May the Government announced its intention to publish a paper on group-based child sexual exploitation by the end of the year, following consultation with subject matter experts. We intend this paper to present the best available evidence on the characteristics of this form of offending, bringing together insight from existing research, independent reviews, and all of the evidence from the Home Office's own work in this area.
The Home Office will set up an External Reference Group, comprising of broad membership with a range of experience and expertise, to review the Pape before its publication. We plan to engage with the External Reference Group over the summer. It is vital we allow time for the External Reference Group to play a proper part in scrutinising the findings and setting the direction for further work.
Subject to engagement with the External Reference Group, we intend to publish the Paper on group-based child sexual exploitation in the autumn.