Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-12-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many adults applying for a passport for the first time have failed the personal interview test in each year since such interviews were required.

Lord Bates

Interview offices were established in 2008 for first time adult applicants. From 2008 to 2010 information on failed interviews was held in each Interview Office and not collated or transformed into centrally held data. A failed interview does not automatically mean the passport application has failed. It indicates that the interviewer was not fully satisfied with the answers given within the allotted interview time and the application requires further investigation.

During this period a number of changes were made to the way in which we conduct our interviews; these changes have led to fewer interviews being failed. Our new interview processes are more flexible and allow us to gather more details from the applicant at the interview stage. This means that interview staff are able to progress the application to a point where they can advise central examining teams that a passport should be issued. Previously, with less freedom in the questions they could put to the applicant they may have had to fail the interview so that these details could be established by another means later on in the process.