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Mr. Keith Simpson (Mid-Norfolk): Under a Conservative Government.
Mr. Straw: Well, we have a Labour Government now, and the agency won the charter mark again last year.
In recent months, however, performance has been poor. Around 500,000 applications currently await processing, which amounts to a backlog of about a month's work. That is twice the level of outstanding work a year ago. Around half those applications are for people wanting to travel in August, September and beyond. The other half are for travel in July. The agency is now clearing almost 150,000 cases a week, which is 20 per cent. higher than the figure for this time last year.
The agency is prioritising work according to travel dates. In the vast majority of cases, applicants are receiving their passports by the stated travel date. However, I fully recognise that even where customers are, in the end, receiving their passports in time to travel--I entirely agree with what the right hon. Member for Maidstone and The Weald said about this--they have had to endure a good deal of anxiety and, in come cases, considerable trouble and inconvenience in having to make personal visits, with long waits, to the caller offices in London, Liverpool, Newport, Belfast and Peterborough.
Mr. Edward Leigh (Gainsborough):
A constituent of mine was forced to travel to Liverpool and miss a day's work. He noticed that the queue outside the office had vanished, but it had simply been transferred inside. I refer the Home Secretary to questions that were asked earlier. We have been sent a picture showing that there is no queue. Is it a symbol of new Labour that real problems are simply airbrushed out of the picture? When will the queues disappear?
Mr. Straw:
My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary sent the letter with a picture from the Liverpool Echo. That was simply a matter of record, because that newspaper had run a story saying that the queues in Liverpool had disappeared, and there were no queues at that time.
Mr. Straw:
I have given way enough.
It is pretty obvious that things have not worked out as anybody anticipated. There will still be queues even when we have returned the Passport Agency to operation at the levels that we expect, for reasons that my hon. Friend
the Member for Normanton (Mr. O'Brien) and--I think--other hon Members understand. The caller offices are there to deal with normal applications.
Although in respects other than queueing the situation is worse than that under the previous Administration--I do not suggest otherwise--I have been informed by the agency that, for six weeks in 1996 immediately following the withdrawal of the British visitors passport by the previous Administration, queues at the London caller office were longer and people were waiting longer.
The agency is clearing about 150,000 cases a week. In this calendar year, 3.25 million passports have already been issued. For literally 99.99 per cent. of applications, the agency has met due travel dates. In 93 cases, the passport has not been delivered on time, and those customers have had their plans either seriously disrupted or cancelled. Those customers obviously wanted a holiday or business trip on time and not monetary compensation--I understand that entirely--but in such circumstances, the agency pays compensation in full and as soon as possible.
I visited the agency's office in London yesterday and spoke to members of the public who were queueing. Some had been queueing for several hours; I do not for a moment regard that as acceptable. Those whom I met were showing extraordinary stoicism in the face of these problems. By 6.30 pm yesterday, 1,500 personal callers to the London office had been dealt with--twice the usual level for a Monday.
I was asked when my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary and I first became aware of the problems and what we decided to do about them. We became aware of the problems in late March from the regular reports that we receive from the agency. My hon. Friend has paid very close personal attention on my behalf to what has been going on at the agency. As soon as he alerted himself to the nature of the problems--to the early warning signs--he called in the agency's chief executive, I saw the permanent secretary at the Home Office and meetings were held. There were also meetings between my hon. Friend and trade unions.
An action plan was agreed to meet what was anticipated at that stage to be the rise in demand and the need to raise output. As a result, an extra 300 people were recruited to deal with the backlog. Staff have been working evenings during the week and over weekends to process postal applications. In order to clear straightforward renewal applications, we also agreed that, where the agency was satisfied about the identity of the applicant, certain passports could instead be extended for two years.
I recognise that the situation did not improve as we had anticipated, although I should make it clear that, having fallen in late March, output has continued to rise and is now at a record level. That must be borne in mind, although I quite understand that it is of no comfort to those who are in the queue.
As a result of further decisions, we have decided--the agency has announced this today--that an extra 100 staff will be recruited to help to deal with the backlog in addition to the 300 extra staff who are being recruited. Advertisements will be placed in the national media advising the public how best to apply for a new passport
that is relevant to their travel date. Those measures should help the agency to get turnround times back to 10 days by September. That is what I am expecting.
Mr. Straw:
I shall give way to my neighbour.
Mr. Evans:
The announcement of the extra 100 staff and anticipation of September is fine, but unless my constituent Sharon Gowan gets her passport by Friday, she will not be able to go on her honeymoon. The Home Secretary said that compensation is often not what people want. My constituent's honeymoon will be ruined, yet the cheque for her passport was cashed in May. Will the right hon. Gentleman assure her that, without queueing for a whole day at an office, she will be able to get a passport by Friday so that she can go on her honeymoon?
Mr. Straw:
I will give the hon. Gentleman the assurance that his constituent will get her passport. [Interruption.] Whether Opposition Members raise their eyebrows or not, we will move heaven and earth to make sure that she gets her passport. I have had constituents in similar circumstances. I do not ask special favours of the passport office--any more than I do of any other part of government--because I happen to be Home Secretary. [Interruption.] I consider it extremely important for people in positions such as mine not to ask for favours in such circumstances. Where such cases have been raised, my office in Blackburn has dealt with them, and they have been dealt with satisfactorily.
Mr. Straw:
I have taken a large number of interventions. I shall give way to the right hon. Member for Maidstone and The Weald, then I shall get on with my speech.
Miss Widdecombe:
I am grateful to the Home Secretary for giving way. I am intrigued by his last answer, which promises special treatment--I am delighted that it does--for the constituent of my hon. Friend the Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans). Can the Home Secretary give a similar assurance to all those with equally urgent business abroad who are biting their fingernails because they have not heard from the passport office, and are in despair because they do not know what will happen? Are the only people who can get such a guarantee to be those whose cases are raised specially in the House?
Mr. Straw:
No, I did not promise the hon. Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans) special treatment. I did promise him the same kind of treatment as every other right hon. and hon. Member has received from my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary and his private office.
Mr. Straw:
I shall proceed with my speech. I have already taken many interventions, as I am always delighted to do. I shall take an intervention from myhon. Friend the Member for Falkirk, East (Mr. Connarty),
Mr. Michael Connarty (Falkirk, East):
I am grateful to my right hon. Friend. Is he aware that--not by going through a Member of Parliament but by sending a clear explanatory letter by fax to the Glasgow office--several of my constituents reported that within half an hour they had a reply and a promised delivery date, which was kept to? I have found that if people's cases have a clear priority and there is a deadline to be met, they are dealt with swiftly, without having to go through a Member of Parliament.
Mr. Straw:
If right hon. and hon. Members will bear with me, I shall set out the advice that we are giving about late applications.
People should apply by post as early as possible, and where possible, at least a month before travelling. People who are not travelling urgently should apply via the Post Office or a World Choice travel agent or direct to the Passport Agency by post. They should make sure that the form is properly completed, and that all documents are enclosed. Eighty per cent. of people apply by post in those ways. UKPA is prioritising all applications by date of travel, which is why we say that, in 99.99 per cent. of cases, people receive their passport on time.
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