Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Thursday, 14 June 2007.

Identity and Passport Service

Question: My Lords, does the Minister have complete confidence in the present passport regime? I refer to the 69 personal passport interview offices. The other day the noble Baroness, Lady Scotland, said that only two of them were operative. According to an answer given by the Minister a month ago, 55 staff have been recruited. Belfast has three staff manning the office and Glasgow has six staff manning the office; what has happened to the other 46?

Answer: My Lords, I can assure the House that they have not gone missing. As my noble friend Lady Scotland explained very clearly the other day, all the other offices are becoming operative in a phased programme. By getting in early on the process of identifying people who want to have a passport, we can begin to prevent and detect even more fraud.

Secondary information