Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Accepted
We are disappointed by the Department and HMPO’s lack of ambition in their plans to...
Recommendation
We are disappointed by the Department and HMPO’s lack of ambition in their plans to meet demand for passports in 2023 and beyond. HMPO estimates that there are still three million customers who did not renew or apply for passports during the pandemic and expects a level of demand in 2023 similar to 2022. This pattern of demand will re-emerge every 10 years as passports expire. HMPO also believes there may be a more fundamental shift in customer application patterns following the pandemic, with people renewing their passports only when they plan to use them, rather than renewing when they expire. HMPO has conducted reviews to learn lessons from its experience in 2022 and prevent issues in the future, but we are not convinced how successful this will be given that it experienced similar surges in demand and service issues in 1999 and 2014. It plans to rely on surge teams to manage spikes in demand by moving people flexibly between roles. In doing so, HMPO is focused on coping with demand, rather than being bold in trying to manage it. While it is important that HMPO ensure they have the correct processes in place, we are increasingly concerned that this focus has distracted them from developing a clear strategy for the timely delivery of passports moving forward, and what they will prioritise when there are surges in demand. Recommendation 6: The Department should set out, as part of its Treasury Minute response, how it will better manage demand for passports in future and what outcomes it will use to measure its performance. 8 Investigation into the UK Passport Office 1 Delays in processing passports in 2022
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the recommendation and states that HM Passport Office has worked to deliver a number of improvements, including improved workflow management information and analytics, appointing an additional supplier to handle calls, and continuing to develop its digital solutions to manage demand for passports in the future.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented In response to the challenges experienced in early-2022, HM Passport Office has worked to deliver a number of improvements to that has delivered consistent high standards of service that its customers rightfully expect. This includes improved workflow management information and analytics, which has delivered significantly improved oversight of work in progress, and better enabling the proactive management of its queues. Alongside this, HM Passport Office has acted to add greater resilience to its provision of customer contact services by appointing an additional supplier to handle approximately 25% of calls to the Passport Adviceline. It has also continued to develop its digital solutions, approximately 89% of applications begin their processing through DAP, with 81% completed end-to-end. In addition, HM Passport Office has developed an ambitious, flexible and responsive staffing model to meet passport demand, and to provide the best service possible to its customers. As a result of these efforts, it has processed almost 4 million applications in 2023, with 99.5% within ten weeks and 93.5% within three weeks. Approximately 5 million people delayed their passport application due to the restrictions upon international travel caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the exceptional cause of this latent demand, the profile of when this will arrive is less predictable than in a normal year. It is therefore appropriate to continue to advise people to allow up to ten weeks to get their passport, however the processing time guidance will be returned to pre- pandemic timeframes in due course. The seasonality of passport demand does put greater pressure on passport services, and there remains significant value in exploring options to smooth this demand across the full year. While HM Passport Office has not yet identified a viable incentive to bring forward demand into the autumn/winter that is both fair and in line with international standards, it will continue to explore ways to attempt to achieve this. Treasury Minutes Archive2 Treasury Minutes are the government’s response to reports from the Committee of Public Accounts. Treasury Minutes are Command Papers laid in Parliament. Session 2022-23 Committee Recommendations: 315 Recommendations agreed: 282 (89%) Recommendations disagreed: 33 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number July 2022 Government response to PAC reports 1, 3 & 10 CP 722 August 2022 Government response to PAC reports 2, 4-8 CP 708 September 2022 Government response to PAC reports 9, 13-16 CP 745 November 2022 Government response to PAC reports 11, 12, 17 CP 755 December 2022 Government response to PAC reports 18-22 CP 774 January 2023 Government response to PAC reports 23-26 CP 781 February 2023 Government response to PAC reports 27-31 CP 802 March 2023 Government response to PAC reports 32-36 CP 828 May 2023 Government response to PAC reports 37-41 CP 845 June 2023 Government response to PAC reports 42-47 CP 847 Session 2021-22 Committee Recommendations: 362 Recommendations agreed: 333 (92%) Recommendations disagreed: 29 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number August 2021 Government response to PAC reports 1-6 CP 510 September 2021 Government response to PAC reports 8-11 CP 520 November 2021 Government response to PAC reports 7,13-16 (and TM2 BBC) CP 550 December 2021 Government response to PAC reports 12, 17-21 CP 583 January 2022 Government response to PAC reports 22-26 CP 603 February 2022 Government response to PAC reports 27-31 CP 631 April 2022 Government response to PAC reports 32-35 CP 649 April 2022 Government response to PAC reports 36-42 CP 667 July 2022 Government response to PAC reports 49-52 CP 722 Session 2019-21 Committee Recommendations: 233 Recommendations agreed: 208 (89%) Recommendations disagreed: 25 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number July 2020 Government responses to PAC reports 1-6 CP 270 September 2020 Government responses to PAC reports 7-13 CP 291 November 2020 Government responses to PAC reports 14-17 and 19 CP 316 January 2021 Government responses to PAC reports 18, 20-24 CP 363 2 List of Treasury Minutes responses for Sessions 2010-15 are annexed in the government’s response to PAC Report 52 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number February 2021 Government responses to PAC reports 25-29 CP 376 February 2021 Government responses to PAC reports 30-34 CP 389 March 2021 Government responses to PAC reports 35-39 CP 409 April 2021 Government responses to PAC reports 40- 44 CP 420 May 2021 Government responses to PAC reports 45-51 CP 434 June 2021 Government responses to PAC reports 52-56 CP 456 Session 2019 Committee Recommendations: 11 Recommendations agreed: 11 (100%) Recommendations disagreed: 0 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number January 2020 Government response to PAC report [112-119] 1 and 2 CP 210 Session 2017-19 Committee Recommendations: 747 Recommendations agreed: 675 (90%) R