To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what security checks on passport applications were waived at the (a) Liverpool and (b) Newport offices; and for what period. [79372]

Security checks have never been waived in the Liverpool and Newport passport offices. The question appears to be directed at recent media reports of a suspension of security checks by the Passport Agency. Managers have allowed staff to exercise wider discretion on issuing passports if they had no significant doubt about the identity of the applicant.These instructions were withdrawn but they did not imply any suspension or relaxation in the Agency's proper security checks on passport applications.A range of automatic and discretionary checks are undertaken at different stages of the passport issuing process to prevent and detect fraud. Additional automatic security checks are undertaken under the new issuing system operating in our Liverpool and Newport offices which also require examiners to adopt a more systematic approach to confirming an applicant's eligibility for passport facilities.The Agency is now doing more security checking than it has ever done.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the roll-out of the new IT systems for the passport offices is currently expected to take place. [79370]

The new high technology driven passport issuing arrangements have already been introduced into the Liverpool and Newport passport offices. The Passport Agency's present plans are for the roll-out of these new arrangements to commence in the Belfast passport office on 30 July, in the Peterborough office on 10 September, in the Glasgow office on 17 September and in the London office in early January 2000.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the average turnaround for passport applications at (a) Liverpool, (b) Newport and (c) all other offices. [79369]

The Passport Agency does not measure its turnround time by averages, but by the maximum turnround time. The current position in working days on maximum turnrounds for non-urgent passport applications is shown:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff were employed at (a) Liverpool and (b) Newport passport offices (i) at the latest available date and (ii) one year previously. [79373]

The number of staff employed in the Liverpool and Newport Passport Offices at the end of February 1999 and February 1998 broken down into permanent and seasonal staff is shown in the table:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passports were being processed at the (a) Liverpool and (b) Newport offices in the latest month for which figures are available; what is the target for the rate of processing; and when that target was originally expected to be reached. [79371]

In February 1999, the Liverpool and Newport passport offices processed 72,702 and 74,547 passports respectively. The monthly target for each office is 120,000 issues. That target was originally expected to be achieved by the end of 1998.