Written question asked by Baroness King of Bow (Labour) on Monday, 22 February 1999, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 1 March 1999. It was answered by Mike O'Brien (Labour) on Monday, 1 March 1999 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) passports and (b) identity documents purporting to be issued by a member state presented on arrival in the United Kingdom have been the subject of enquiries with the authorities of the member state as to their (i) genuineness and (ii) correct issuance during the period 1st February 1998 to date. - Including figure.

Answer: Ms Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) passports and (b) identity documents purporting to be issued by a member state presented on arrival in the United Kingdom have been the subject of inquiries with the authorities of the member state as to their (i) genuineness and (ii) correct issuance during the period 1 February 1998 to date. [72858] Mr. Mike O'Brien: Statistics are not kept of the number of such enquiries. Normally, document abuse is identified without the need to refer to the issuing authority. In 1998, 3,478 forged European Union/European Economic Area travel documents were detected at our ports of entry.

Secondary information