To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give for each year since 1979 the number of (a) passports lost, (b) passport applications lost and (c) birth certificates lost (i) in the London passport office and (ii) in all the passport offices.

Maximum and minimum delay times (working days)
	1984–85		1985–86		1986–87		1987–88
	Maximum	Minimum	Maximum	Minimum	Maximum	Minimum	Maximum	Minimum
London	16	2	20	6	36	11	72	20
Liverpool	12	2	22	1	14	2	38	2
Peterborough	10	1	13	2	12	3	26	5
Newport	10	1	17	1	31	3	56	4
Glasgow	14	2	16	2	33	4	51	6
Belfast	3	1	4	1	4	2	7	2

The table shows the number of passports lost in transit to the applicant, and not recovered, in each financial year since 1984, when the Home Office assumed responsibility for passport issuing in the United Kingdom. Instances of passports, applications and other documents going astray within a passport office are not separately recorded, but they are conparatively rare. Lost passports and documents submitted in support of passport applications are replaced free of charge to the applicant.

Passports Lost in Post (Not Recovered)
	1984–85	1985–86	1986–87	1987–88
London	167	80	80	78
Liverpool	224	222	243	195
Peterborough	133	109	117	69
Newport	108	120	95	70
Glasgow	32	30	29	17
Belfast	3	8	10	13
Total	667	569	574	442

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give for each year since 1979 the number of letters received by Home Secretaries from hon. Members concerning cases of poor service from passport offices.

The number of letters on passport matters received from hon. Members since 1 April 1984, when the Home Office assumed responsibility for passport issuing in the United Kingdom, is as follows:

Year	Letters
1984 (April-December)	186
1985	184
1986	238
1987	433

An analysis of the letters by subject matter is not readily available, but the increases during the last two years are largely attributable to letters expressing concern about the standard of service. The large increase in 1987 is primarily attributable to the increased delays following industrial action over pay in the early summer.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give for each year since 1979 the average period between receipt of a passport application and provision of a passport by (a) the London passport office and (b) all passport offices.

The table shows the maximum and minimum delays in processing correctly completed non-urgent passport applications occurring in each financial year since 1984, when the Home Office assumed responsibility for passport issuing in the United Kingdom.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give for each year since 1979 the total number of passport applications (a) to the London passport office and (b) to all passport offices.

The information is not available in precisely the form requested. The table shows the number of new passports issued and amendments made to existing passports in each financial year since 1984, when the Home Office assumed responsibility for passport issuing in the United Kingdom.

Output-All passport services
	1984–85	1985–86	1986–87	1987–88
London	553,412	575,982	574,041	484,048
Liverpool	539,337	545,293	707,256	675,513
Peterborough	464,525	500,570	595,377	585,034
Newport	429,849	438,087	524,344	556,468
Glasgow	163,427	163,007	201,383	184,289
Belfast	54,169	57,380	69,993	79,398
Total	2,204,719	2,280,319	2,672,394	2,564,750

Permanent staff numbers [authorised complement] (+ maximum number of casuals)
	1984–85		1985–86		1986–87		1987–88
	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2
London1	300	(+52)	301	(+35)	296	(+47)	301	(+50)
Liverpool	206	(+27)	206	(+14)	206	(+32)	206	(+49)
Peterborough	169	(+23)	169	(+28)	169	(+34)	169	(+43)
Newport	170	(+20)	170	(+24)	169	(+31)	169	(+51)
Glasgow	83	(+12)	83	(+13)	83	(+18)	83	(+26)
Belfast	15	(+6)	15	(+6)	15	(+6)	15	(+5)
Total	943	(+140)	944	(+120)	938	(+168)	943	(+224)
1 Includes Headquarters staff.