The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Glen Watson, Director General for ONS, to Lord Laird, dated October 2012.

As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to respond to your Parliamentary Question to Her Majesty’s Government, asking why International Passenger Survey interviews for foreign residents arriving in the United Kingdom are half the average length; whether children are interviewed, what are the most common reasons for declining an interview; how many self-completion questionnaires were given to Romanians in the last five years; and what happens in the case of an illiterate non-English speaker (HL2467).

I am able to report the following details:

the IPS is a multi-purpose survey, including provision of statistics relating to overseas travel and tourism (i.e. visits of fewer than 12 months’ duration), and international migration The vast majority of passengers sampled on IPS are visiting for fewer than 12 months. These passengers are asked to attend a shorter interview of approximately two minutes as they start their visit (i.e. overseas residents in the case of arrivals interviews) and a longer interview of approximately four minutes when they end their visit (i.e. UK residents for arrivals interviews). The latter includes questions probing details such as spending on the visit, length of stay, main purpose of visit;

children are selected for interview on IPS. The information relating to the child's visit is typically provided by an accompanying adult on the child’s behalf;

it is typically not possible to gauge the reason for declining an interview as the respondent will simply refuse to take part. Such cases are recorded as “refused”. In 2011, 1.5% of cases refused;

in the past five years 57 self-completion questionnaires have been completed by Romanian nationals This represents 3.5% of the total number of self-completion questionnaires issued; and

in the case of an illiterate non-English speaker the interviewer will (unless s/he is able to speak that language) seek to ask help from passengers accompanying this individual to gain the information that is required. Further, steps are taken to obtain nationality and residence information from that respondent (for example by asking to see their passport) and this information is used in subsequent analysis Other steps are taken in cases of language or literacy difficulties, including use of foreign language questionnaires and conducting the full interview verbally without requiring the respondent to read anything.

Miriam Maes was contracted by DECC for the period September 2010 to May 2011, following a competitive tender process. The competition was run by inviting four candidates considered to be energy efficiency experts to submit tenders. Miriam Maes and one other candidate were interviewed by civil servants. The names of the unsuccessful candidates are confidential. Civil servants made a recommendation to the Minister for Climate Change, the right hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Gregory Barker), that the Department appoint Miriam Maes, which the Minister agreed. This contract was extended once on the recommendation of civil servants, with the approval of the permanent secretary. It is not normal procedure to ask Ministers to approve an extension of this size. Miriam Maes was provided with business cards. Business cards are used to help identify DECC members of staff and, where appropriate, contractors to the Department, and record contact details.

Ms Maes was subsequently contracted, following a competitively tendered process for the period July 2011 to March 2012. This competition was advertised on Contracts Finder in June 2011 at:

www.contractsfinder.co.uk

Civil servants conducted the interview process, no Minister was asked to sign off the appointment. Miriam Maes has been paid £49,000 (+VAT) and has claimed £338.40 in expenses under the above contracts. Miriam attended some meetings at DECC outside of her contracted periods.

Consultants are expected to comply with their contractual terms. A copy of Ms Maes’ contract has been placed in the Library, redacted as necessary. Ms Maes notified the Department of her clients at Foresee and it is not departmental policy to publish such declarations for reasons of confidentiality.

Miriam Maes had a departmental pass that was valid between 23 September 2010 and 31 May 2011, but was not provided with a departmental e-mail account. The Department does not hold a central record of the occasions on which Miriam Maes was contacted by e-mail. The Department did not contribute to the cost of Miriam Maes’ mobile telephone, nor her attendance at the Conservative party conference in 2010.

Ministers from time to time will meet external stakeholders for informal discussions. Officials did not attend the meeting on 15 February. Ministers’ meetings with external organisations are published on the DECC website at:

http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/accesstoinform/registers/ministermtgs/ministermtgs.aspx

A record of all departmental spend above £500 is available on the DECC website at:

http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/accesstoinform/expenditure/expenditure.aspx

The Department has released a number of e-mails between Miriam Maes and the Department, and these are available on the Department’s website. The Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change was informed of progress in responding to the freedom of information request and shown the material for release pre-publication. He did not make the decision in relation to this request. Some further information in this area has been requested under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and my Department is considering the request in accordance with the requirements of that Act. Information relating to internal discussions and advice, including that from the permanent secretary to Ministers on matters such as this, is not normally disclosed.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Stephen Penneck, Director General for the Office for National Statistics, to Lord Laird, dated September 2012

Dear Lord Laird

As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to respond to your Parliamentary Questions to Her Majesty’s Government, asking

• why International Passenger Survey (IPS) interviews for foreign residents arriving in the United Kingdom are half the average length of IPS interviews; whether children are interviewed; what are the most common reasons for declining an interview; and what steps are taken in case of an illiterate non-English speaker. HL2094

• how many self-completion questionnaires in Romanian have been issued in the last five years; and what proportion this represents of the total number of self-completion questionnaires issued. HL2095

I am able to report the following details.

1. The IPS is a multi-purpose survey, including provision of statistics relating to overseas travel and tourism (i.e. visits of less than 12 months’ duration), and international migration. The vast majority of passengers sampled on IPS are visiting for less than 12 months. These passengers are asked a shorter interview of approximately two minutes as they start their visit (i.e. overseas residents in the case of arrivals interviews) and a longer interview of approximately four minutes when they end their visit (i.e. UK residents for arrivals interviews). The latter includes questions probing details such as spending on the visit, length of stay, main purpose of visit.

2. Children are selected for interview on IPS. The information relating to the child’s visit is typically provided by an accompanying adult on the child’s behalf.

3. It is typically not possible to gauge the reason for declining an interview as the respondent will simply refuse to take part. Such cases are recorded as “refused”. In 2011, 1.5% of cases refused.

4. In the case of an illiterate non-English speaker the interviewer will (unless s/he is able to speak that language) seek to ask help from passengers accompanying this individual to gain the information that is required. Further, steps are taken to obtain nationality and residence information from that respondent (for example by asking to see their passport) and this information is used in subsequent analysis. Other steps are taken in cases of language or literacy difficulties, including use of foreign language questionnaires and conducting the full interview verbally without requiring the respondent to read anything.

5. In the last five years 57 self-completion questionnaires have been completed by Romanian nationals. This represents 3.5% of the total number of self-completion questionnaires issued.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Penneck

Director General for ONS

Benefit claimants in Birkenhead can request their Work Capability Assessment with Atos Healthcare to be audio recorded or can ask to record it themselves and all requests will be accommodated where possible. However, DWP has the right to impose reasonable conditions on recordings, and does not have any legal obligation to provide recording equipment.

While Atos will do all that they can to accommodate requests for audio recording, there may be times when this service cannot be offered, for example, where it has not been possible to get access to recording equipment on the date/time of the WCA. In these circumstances, claimants will be told in advance that their request cannot be accommodated. Currently, appointments may be deferred for up to four weeks for any circumstance, including the non-availability of recording equipment.

The total number of individuals required to attend a face-to-face interview when applying for third social fund crisis loan within a 12 month period is outlined in the following table.

This requirement was suspended with effect from 16 January 2012, and abolished from 8 May 2012.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are their intentions regarding the future of passport personal interview offices.

I thank the Minister for his response. Does he agree that, when we have had 1.5 million interviews in the past five or six years and only 12 rejections, there is something wrong with this legislation? Does he also agree that it might be an opportunity for those involved with personal passport interviews and the UK Border Agency to talk together, and that some of the personnel and resources in the personal passport interview process could be deployed to strengthen the work of the UK Border Agency?

My Lords, I am sure that all noble Lords will have read in the press over the

weekend speculation about the Prime Minister’s views on student visas. Can the Minister give us any insight into how thinking is developing in this area?

The Minister will be aware that when you apply for a passport you have to have it countersigned by “a professional”. In my 30 years as a head, I have probably done 100 of these. No one has ever checked whether I am the person I am supposed to be. Can the Minister tell us how many people who countersign those passports are checked up on?

My Lords, I return to the Question. What has been the cost of these 1.5 million interviews? Is it true that it has been in the nature of a third of £1 billion? Is it not time that we looked at this situation?

In view of some of the comments that have been made, can the Minister confirm that one of the fastest-growing crimes in this country is based on identity theft and that, in the midst of identity theft, one of the largest areas is the theft of people’s passports as an entry to identity, which then leads to further crimes, running from intervention in personal details through to bank accounts and right up to terrorism? While we are reminding ourselves of the costs of this, let us remind ourselves of its benefits as well.

My Lords, the interview forms part of the identity authentication process for first-time adult passport applicants and provides a deterrent against fraud. There are no current plans to alter the existing network of passport personal interview offices.

I cannot give my noble friend a precise answer, but I will certainly make sure that the appropriate checks are made on him before he signs any future applications to ensure that he is the noble Lord he purports to be.

My Lords, there is a cost. That is why we made changes to the number of interview offices. As a result of that restructuring, we are achieving a saving of some £7.81 million a year. As I said in answer to the original Question, they are a very important part of the authentication process.