Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the longest time is for which a passport application has been waiting to be processed from receipt at the passport office to delivery to applicant for (a) new applications and (b) applications for renewal of passport in the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 May 2014.

In the period to which you refer, the longest waiting time for completion of (a) a new application and (b) for a renewal was both 135 days. In the case of
the new application, the applicant failed to provide the required supporting documentation with their application. Her Majesty's Passport Office (HMPO)
made five separate requests, over the next three months for the documentationto be supplied. The applicant finally supplied the documents over four months after the date of the application. HMPO issued the passport eight days afterreceipt of the documentation. In the case of the renewal, an application was made to renew a child’s passport with a change of name. HMPO wrote to the parent on seven occasions seeking additional information concerning parental responsibility and agreement to the change of name. A court order confirmingthe change of name was forwarded by the applicant over four months afterthe date of application. The passport was issued seven days after receipt of the court order.