asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many personal passport interviews have been held in each of the personal passport interview offices. [HL1274]
The attached table shows the number of interviews held to date in each office as at close of business 10 January 2008.
Office Name Total Interviews Completed Aberdeen 1 Aberystwyth 17 Andover 5 Armagh 7 South Molton 6 Belfast 864 Birmingham 1921 Blackburn 30 Sleaford 2 Bournemouth 126 Bristol 60 Bury St Edmunds 9 Redruth 4 Carlisle 30 Chelmsford 120 Cheltenham 118 Coleraine 24 Crawley 133 Derby 81 Dover 129 Dumfries 2 Edinburgh 33 Exeter 3 Glasgow 1,337 Inverness 9 Ipswich 68 Kendal 5 Kingston Upon Hull 57 Leeds 1,147 Leicester 1 Lincoln 211 Liverpool 625 London 8,520 Luton 185 Maidstone 87 Manchester 1,425 Middlesbrough 315 Newcastle 1,157 Newport 1,574 Newport IOW 59 Ripon 7 Northampton 121 Omagh 4 Peterborough 875 Plymouth 212 Portsmouth 369 Reading 137 Scarborough 20 Sheffield 574 Shrewsbury 56 St Austell 3 Stirling 32 Stoke on Trent 278 Swansea 174 Swindon 18 Warwick 34 Wick 1 Wrexham 56 Yeovil 63 York 45 Total 23,586
The variation in numbers from office to office reflects both the sizes of offices and their catchment population as well as how long they have been operational.
asked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the total cost to the end of 2007 of establishing the network of personal passport interview offices. [HL1275]
The total expenditure to date to establish and to operate the network of passport interview offices is £93,560,890.93.
This includes capital, project set-up costs and operational costs.
asked Her Majesty's Government:
What progress has been made with regard to the proposal to establish remote area personal passport interview offices. [HL1276]
IPS is progressing with the development of remote community passport interview services. A service proof-of-concept has been developed and will shortly commence customer testing. Negotiations with local authorities to make available staff and premises where the video interviews will be conducted are well advanced. It is planned that the services will be rolled out during 2008, subject to successful testing and finalisation of offices.