Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information his Department uses to estimate processing times for passport applications; and whether that estimate begins from the date on which the Passport Office receives (a) confirmation of the applicant's identity or (b) the application.

Passport applicants using the standard service should allow up to ten weeks from the date that the initial documents requested are physically delivered to Her Majesty’s Passport Office.