Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations the Government has received on the practices of UK Services and Support Ltd in relation to charges for passport applications; and what steps have been taken in response to those representations.

HM Passport Office (HMPO) received 6 complaints during the period 2014 to 2015 relating to the passport services offered on the website provided by UK Services and Support Limited. HMPO, in conjunction with the Cabinet Office Digital Service, is working with the Office of Fair Trading, the Advertising Standards Authority, search engine providers and various trading standard bodies to curtail the activities of websites that advertise their services in a way which may be misleading to the public. HMPO has specifically worked with
Google for sponsored adverts from third party websites to be taken down and not to appear above the natural search results.