Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that adequate resources are allocated to help the timely processing of (a) UK passport renewals and (b) the EU Settlement Scheme.

Her Majesty’s Passport Office has added 850 staff since April 2021. This has helped to ensure that more passport applications are being processed than ever before, with the processing of approximately three million applications being completed between March and May.

Processing capacity will increase further, with an additional 350 staff arriving within the summer.

Within the EU Settlement Scheme, we are committed to ensuring our operational teams have the resources they need to run an efficient and effective system, and we actively monitor workflows to ensure sufficient resources are in place to meet demand.

Our aim is to process all applications to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) as quickly as possible, yet each individual case is considered on its own facts. Cases may take longer dependent on the circumstances of the case, for example, if the applicant is facing an impending prosecution or has a criminal record. Anyone awaiting the outcome of their application can evidence their rights with their Certificate of Application which is issued as soon as possible after a valid application is received.