asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has any plans to transfer more staff to the Passport Office to alleviate the huge queues which obtain there, particularly at this time of year.
Written Answers. - Passport Office.
37.
The Passport Office employs temporary staff to take account of seasonal variations. It is not however possible to avoid entirely the problems of added pressure particularly in the months May, June and July.
Although applications for new passports in the first five months of 1986 were 28 per cent higher than for the same period of 1985 the staff have been able to maintain a situation where passports are in general being issued within ten days where applications are in order. They hope to maintain the issuing time under two weeks throughout the summer. Applicants who require passports more urgently have been facilitated, both at the Passport Office and by post. Inevitably at this time of year there are queues at the Passport Office by those who want passports urgently.
A period of less than two weeks for processing applications and issuing passports is in line with previous years, and by international standards very short. I would take this oportunity to suggest that applications are best made in adequate time by post.