Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what public consultation there has been on the proposed closure of 15 HM Passport Office interview offices.

Under the planned changes to HM Passport Offices the vast majority of passport application interviewees will see no change to their travel time. In a small number of cases passport application interviewees will have to travel further but this should not be more than 65 miles or one and a half hours from their previous closest office. The decision to deliver greater value for money by reducing surplus capacity for interviews was clear, therefore public consultation on the changes was not applicable.