Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of enabling passport renewal applications to be processed before the old passports for those applications have been returned.

His Majesty’s Passport Office policy is that an individual should only be in possession of one valid passport at any time, with some very limited exceptions for those with a legitimate need for an additional passport. This ensures that any previous passports are appropriately cancelled before a new one is issued in order to maintain the integrity of the passport, protect the identity of the holder and prevent fraud.