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The Newport Passport Office is one of seven regional offices and one of five Passport Application Processing Centres. Newport Passport Application Processing Centre serves the whole of Wales, Devon and Cornwall, Avon and Somerset, Dorset and Gloucestershire. It deals with 47,000 passport applications annually—around 10% of the national total.
On 8 October 2010, the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) announced a public consultation on its proposed plan to close the Passport Office at Newport, with a loss of over 300 jobs. On 12 October, the Home Office announced that a customer service centre would be retained in Newport to service South Wales and the South West of England. A consultation process on the proposed closure began on 19 October 2010 and was subsequently extended to 18 March 2011. The piecemeal nature of the announcements suggests the lack of a co-ordinated strategy regarding the future of the IPS in Wales.
The Newport Passport Office is the only passport office serving the people of Wales. The Committee is concerned that its significance to Wales and its value to the Welsh economy has not been truly appreciated by the Government. No economic impact assessment of the proposal has to date been completed on an area which has suffered long-term effects from the closures of the heavy industry on which its prosperity was once founded. It is therefore important to re-examine and re-evaluate the criteria on which the decision was based. These oversights and omissions should be addressed before the final decision is made.
The Newport Passport Office is the second largest employer in the city centre. Its closure would have a significant economic impact on the city. Wales has recently suffered from the cancellation of several key strategic projects which would have brought investment and jobs to Wales. The closure of the passport application processing centre would be a further blow for the Welsh economy.
The Committee is not convinced by the Government's argument that long-term savings will be made by reducing the size of the Newport Office. The Office has been responsible for successful, innovative programmes and has a cadre of skilled and experienced staff. The rationale behind the closure is based on short-term savings without a proper examination of the long-term advantages of consolidating services in Newport. The IPS should provide a detailed appraisal of the costs and benefits of consolidation and expansion in Newport as opposed to a reduction of services there.
Without the retention of the office in Newport, we doubt that the Government's duty to provide a Welsh-language service to users can be properly discharged.
The appraisal and consultation process which led to the decision in principle to close the Passport Office in Newport was unsatisfactory and the rationale for the decision is questionable. The Committee calls on the Government to ensure that the concerns raised in the report are taken into account when deciding on the future of the Newport Passport Office.
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