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17 Jan 2005 : Column 745W—continued
British Passports
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time for a British passport application to be processed has been in each year since 1997. [204449]
Mr. Browne: The average processing times provided in the table relate to the time taken to issue straightforward, properly completed applications by the UK Passport Service during the calendar year.
| Average processing time (days) | |
|---|---|
| 1997 | 8.4 |
| 1998 | 11.3 |
| 1999 | 19.8 |
| 2000 | 5.1 |
| 2001 | 4.4 |
| 2002 | 4.0 |
| 2003 | 3.9 |
| 2004 | 4.9 |
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of British people without (a) a passport and (b) a driving licence in each year since 1997. [204450]
Mr. Browne: The table indicates, within a range, the number of people resident in Britain that do not hold a valid UK passport; and the population not holding a driver's licence.
(9) 2004 passport figure calculated using figures up to November 2004.
Sources:
(a) UK Passport Service
(b) DVLA
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many British passports have been issued in each year since 1997. [204451]
Mr. Browne: The number of passports issued by the UK Passport Service for each calendar year was as follows:
| Number of passports issued | |
|---|---|
| 1997 | 4,729,467 |
| 1998 | 4,851,215 |
| 1999 | 5,614,360 |
| 2000 | 5,492,141 |
| 2001 | 5,668,272 |
| 2002 | 5,397,050 |
| 2003 | 5,532,350 |
| 2004 | 6,070,626 |
17 Jan 2005 : Column 746W
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many forged passports have been impounded in each year since 1997. [204452]
Mr. Browne: Figures are not kept centrally within the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) for the number of forged passports impounded each year.
Since 1997 numbers of fraudulent travel documents detected at United Kingdom ports of entry are as follows:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 1997 | 4,411 |
| 1998 | 6,338 |
| 1999 | 5,516 |
| 2000 | 5,394 |
| 2001 | 6,601 |
| 2002 | 9,664 |
| 2003 | 7,985 |
Since 2001 the National Document Fraud Unit (NDFU) has had a permanent presence in the main offices of IND in Croydon, following a pilot exercise which revealed large numbers of fraudulent travel documents being submitted in support of applications for leave to remain. Fraudulent documents detected by NDFU in Croydon from 2001 are:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 2001 | 360 |
| 2002 | 461 |
| 2003 | 837 |
The NDFU makes a significant contribution to work being carried out internationally in the EU, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and G8 to disrupt the work of forgers and to encourage states to impound, and thereby withdraw from circulation, forged and fraudulent passports and other travel documents detected. It also works closely with travel document issuing agencies in order to combat identity fraud and support the operation of border controls.
Criminal Cases Review Commission
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had in the last two years regarding the terms of reference of the Criminal Cases Review Commission. [207513]
Paul Goggins: I am the Minister with responsibility for the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
As such, I have visited the Commission and been involved in general discussions and correspondence about its work. Officials have also had numerous discussions with the Commission about all aspects of its work including some proposed changes to its powers and jurisdiction. Over the last two years there has been
17 Jan 2005 : Column 747W
no occasion where it was necessary for Ministers to hold discussions regarding the terms of reference of the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Identity Fraud
Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made with his Department's project examining the feasibility of sharing data about deceased persons with organisations involved in fraud prevention. [207195]
Mr. Browne: The Home Office-led Identity Fraud Steering Committee, which comprises public and private sector organisations that are committed to reducing identity fraud, began a project in November 2004 to explore the benefits, feasibility and legal impediments of sharing public sector deceased person information with private sector organisations involved in fraud prevention.
The project is making good progress and is due for completion at the end of January 2005.
Immigration Appeals
Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when officials at the Immigration Appellate Authority will set a date for the appeal hearing of a constituent of the hon. Member for Vauxhall, reference number: M1154882. [203536]
Mr. Lammy: I have been asked to reply.
There is currently no appeal before the Immigration Appellate Authority. The Immigration and Nationality Directorate has confirmed that it has no record of an appeal for this case.
Identity Cards
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what costs are associated with the issue of (a) a free-standing identity card and (b) a combined passport and identity card. [201407]
Mr. Browne: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave in reply to the question from the hon. Member for Edinburgh, West (John Barrett), on 20 December 2004, Official Report, column 1901W.
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements he plans to make to allow British citizens living overseas to register for identity cards. [207622]
Mr. Browne: The identity cards scheme will apply to British citizens resident in the United Kingdom, as well as to foreign nationals legally resident for more than three months. There will be no requirement on British citizens resident abroad to register for an identity card until such time as they come to take up residence here.
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of countries which (a) have introduced national identity cards since September 2001 and (b) are in the process of introducing them. [207691]
17 Jan 2005 : Column 748W
Mr. Browne: Identity card schemes have existed in most EU countries for many years. Only the UK, Ireland, Denmark and Latvia do not have an identity card scheme, although Denmark has a system of population registration.
Lithuania introduced identity cards in 2003. Sweden has plans to introduce a national identity card scheme to replace privately issued identity cards available at present. Latvia also has plans to introduce identity cards. In addition, countries such as Germany and France are actively looking at ways in which to increase security of their identity cards.
Home Office officials have had detailed discussions with colleagues involved in the operation of identity card schemes in Italy, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany and lessons learned have informed the development of policy where appropriate. Comprehensive information has been supplied by each of the EU member states on the operation of their card schemes. The results of this work comprise Annex 3 of "Entitlement Cards and Identity Fraud: A Consultation" (CM 5557) published in July 2002.
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals illegally resident in the UK have been found to be in possession of forged Portuguese identity cards in the last 12 months. [207320]
Mr. Browne: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate's (IND's) National Document Fraud Unit (NDFU) leads the UK response to travel document abuse. In April 2004 NDFU co-ordinated an exercise at several UK ports of entry, focusing on abuse of Portuguese identity cards. This repeated earlier similar exercises. NDFU have also recently produced a guide to Portuguese documentation for the specific use of enforcement staff, who are responsible for identifying those in the UK unlawfully. Although statistics are not collated centrally in respect of the numbers of forged documents found in possession of those illegally in the UK, during the period 1 January 2004 to 30 November 2004, enforcement staff brought 108 forged Portuguese identity cards (out of a total of 141 forged identity cards from all EU nationalities) to the attention of NDFU. During the same period, 236 forged Portuguese identity cards were detected at UK ports of entry (of a total of 1,417 forged identity cards of all EU nationalities) and 21 forged Portuguese identity cards (of a total of 42) were detected at IND's Croydon offices.
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