29
Rejected
The Home Affairs Committee examined delays to processing applications in 2014 and similarly concluded that...
Conclusion
The Home Affairs Committee examined delays to processing applications in 2014 and similarly concluded that the issue of service standards had been a persistent theme in the way the Department defended the delay in dealing with cases over several governments. The Committee received a large volume of correspondence from members of the public who were concerned about the delays, and Members from all side of the House were contacted by constituents about their passports with increasing regularity. In its report, the Committee was concerned that the work in progress figure for passports remained unacceptably high, despite the contingency measures put in place, and recommended that HMPO needed to do more to prevent work in progress getting to this level as it was “clearly unsustainable”. The Committee found that as the crisis developed, the Department took measures to increase processing capacity and reduce demand. The Committee was nonetheless concerned by the apparent miscommunication between HMPO and the Department, as well as the telephone service provided to customers wanting information about their case, and that the contingency measures announced to respond to the backlog were “too little, too late”.53 52 Committee of Public Accounts, The Passport Delays of Summer 1999, Twenty-Fourth Report of Session 1999– 2000, HC 208, 31 January 2000 53 Home Affairs Committee, Her Majesty’s Passport Office: delays in processing applications, Fourth Report of Session 2014–15, HC 238, 16 September 2014 Investigation into the UK Passport Office 17
Government Response Summary
The government explicitly rejects the committee's observation, stating that excellent customer service is central to HMPO's policy and citing recent Customer Service Excellence reaccreditation and high customer satisfaction scores.
Government Response
Rejected
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation. 2.2 Excellent customer service has always been at the forefront of HM Passport Office’s policy-making, and the implementation of its processes. During the summer of 2022, HM Passport Office prioritised cases entirely based upon customer need. While the standard UK passport service does not have a guaranteed processing timeframe, and customers are advised not to book travel without a valid passport, the provision of the expedited service is a clear example of its approach to helping ensure that people received their passport in good time. 2.3 HM Passport Office will always endeavour to improve the service offered, and regularly gathers both qualitative and quantitative feedback about its service to inform future changes. This is done through a variety of ways, including the monitoring of complaints, as well as regular detailed surveying of its customers. 2.4 In the autumn of 2022, HM Passport Office was reaccredited as having achieved the Customer Service Excellence standard. It exceeded each of the 57 assessment elements across the five criteria, which includes the approach to Customer Insight and Customer Satisfaction. 2.5 In its latest customer experience survey (April 2023), 85% scored their experience of HM Passport Office as 9 or 10 out of 10 (where 10 is excellent). 2.6 However, in line with data protection principles, HM Passport Office will only gather and hold customer data that enables the purpose of processing this data to be fulfilled. In effect, it will only collect information that has a bearing on the processing of a passport application. It is for this reason that customer research and feedback is used to inform the operation.
Source
Committee
Public Accounts Committee
Report
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigation into the UK Passport Office
06 Apr 2023
HC 738
Addressee Bodies
HM Treasury
Timeline
Recommendation age
3.3 yrs
Report published
06 Apr 2023