Written question asked by David Davis (Conservative) on Friday, 28 August 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 10 September 2026 (named day). A holding answer was provided on Thursday, 10 September 2026. A substantive answer was provided by Nick Smith (Labour) on Friday, 11 September 2026 on behalf of the House of Commons Commission.

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Parliamentary Estate: Security

Question

To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many passes to the parliamentary estate were granted in each calendar year between 2015 and 2025, broken down by (a) Members of the House of Commons, (b) Members' staff and interns, (c) political parties, (d) former Members of the House of Commons, (e) Members of the House of Lords, (f) Peers' Staff and Interns, (g) retired Peers, (h) Hereditary Peers, (i) direct employees of the House of Commons, (j) Member's Spouse/Partner, (k) direct employees of the House (Bicameral), (l) direct employees of the House of Lords, (m) Peer's spouses and partners, (n) specialist advisers employed by the House of Commons, (o) specialist advisers employed by the House of Lords, (p) Civil Servants and Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), (q) partners and contracting companies that do not require a Health and Safety Induction (r) partners and contracting companies that require a Health and Safety Induction, (s) media, (t) gymnasium members only and (u) R&R Management.

Answer

The parliamentary pass system does not hold data for the number of passes granted to new applicants each year. We do hold some data breaking down the number of new applications processed for the past two years, of which only a very small proportion are refused. The application numbers also include some who require security clearance but do not need a pass to enter the estate ('clearance only' applications). It is not possible to disaggregate 'clearance only' or rejected applications from the data.

These figures are not grouped exactly as per the request, and the raw data is not retained in this format. These figures do not include day passes, renewals or replacements.

Passholder Type	2024	2025
Employees of both Houses	584	380
Employees of third parties	4692	5139
Members’ staff	2943	1857
Media	139	61
Civil Servants	1149	704
TOTAL # OF NEW APPLICANTS	9507	8143

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Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

19832

Session

2026-27

Subjects

Security Parliamentary estate

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk