Passport Applications Debate

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Department: Home Office

Passport Applications

Steve Rotheram Excerpts
Wednesday 18th June 2014

(10 years, 6 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Yvette Cooper Portrait Yvette Cooper
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The unfortunate thing is that the message on the Government’s websites and helplines still says that passports will be processed within three weeks. Families are making decisions on that basis: they think it will be done within three weeks and then it is not. It can be delayed by many weeks, and that is a huge problem, because they have made plans and invested in booking holidays.

Steve Rotheram Portrait Steve Rotheram (Liverpool, Walton) (Lab)
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Does my right hon. Friend agree that staff in places such as Liverpool passport office are doing their best with the backlog, and that this is a systemic failure on the part of the Government and not the fault of people who have been put in an intolerable position by staff cuts?

Yvette Cooper Portrait Yvette Cooper
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My hon. Friend is right. We understand that staff are working long hours, including weekends, but people are still not getting their passports in time.