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To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 15 July 2015 to Question 5846, what (a) proportion and (b) number of applications for a passport for a child overseas take longer than eight months to process.

Answer (from James Brokenshire):  A total of 49,173 international child passport applications finished processing in January-June 2015. Of this total, 1,068 (2.2%) took longer than eight months to be processed. The processing time is the length of time from receipt of the application to the passport being printed.

Her Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) must be fully satisfied that all appropriate checks have been completed successfully prior to the issuance of passport facilities. This is particularly important in relation to child applications as part of Her Majesty’s Passport Office responsibility to protect potentially vulnerable children, including those potentially at risk of child trafficking and to maintain the integrity of the British Passport.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 15 July 2015 to Question 5849, how many complaints she has received on slow service at HM Passport Office in each of the last two years.

Answer (from James Brokenshire): Her Majesty’s Passport Office has dealt with a range of customer enquiries over the last two years. These enquiries have come from members of the public and from Members of Parliament on behalf of their constituents.  Her Majesty’s Passport Office is committed to processing applications as quickly as possible while maintaining the high level of security within the application system. Those applicants who need to travel urgently have their cases considered as a priority

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, under what circumstances a non-British parent of a young child based in the UK, who is not allowed to stay in the country for periods longer than six months, stops being considered as a primary care giver for immigration purposes as a result of siblings filling that role. Answer (from James Brokenshire): The requirements to be met by a non-European Economic Area national for entry clearance to or leave to remain in the UK as a parent of a child based here are set out in paragraphs EC-PT.1.1. and R-LTRPT.1.1. of Appendix FM to the Immigration Rules. Further guidance on these requirements can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/chapter-8-appendix-fm-family-members