Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is unconvinced that the Passport Office will be able to complete its digital transformation programme on schedule by 2025.
It is highlighted this as one of the key conclusions of its investigation into the performance of the agency, focused on its failure last year to deal with a surge in applications for passports as Covid-19 travel restrictions were lifted.
The report includes several issues raised by the National Audit Office (NAO) late last year in its own report on the issue, but emphasises the committee’s doubts over the Passport Office’s ability to deliver its digital transformation – which is moving it away from paper based processing of applications – on schedule.
The scope of the programme has increased since it began in 2021 and it was rated red by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA), with recommendations that it should not proceed until the Passport Office had managed risks to an acceptable level.
The agency told the PAC it had been making progress with this and the rating had been changed to amber, but acknowledged the data storage contract for its paper applications is due to expire in 2024, before it expects the digital transformation to be complete, while saying it would ensure there is no gap.
It also said it is evaluating options to bring forward the completion of the transformation programme; but the committee report makes clear it is not convinced.
Recommendations and contingencies
The PAC says the agency should set out, as part of its Treasury Minute response, what actions it has taken to address recommendations in the IPA’s review on its activities, and explain what contingencies it is putting in place should there be further delays in the programme.
The PAC report reiterates points raised by the NAO that between January and September of last year 134,000 digital applications were moved to a paper based system and around 5% of applicants were kept waiting at least 10 weeks for their passports.
In addition, it sometimes took two and a half weeks to register an application in the digital system.
Its other main findings are that there was an unacceptable level of service to customers in 2022, that there has been a “worrying lack of curiosity about the human impact”, a lack of understanding of how applications moved through the system, poor performance by contractors and a lack of ambition to meet the demand for passports in the future.
PAC member Peter Grant MP said: “The level of service our constituents received from the Passport Office last spring and summer was simply unacceptable. Passport Office staff did the best they could but they were fighting a losing battle against antiquated processes and poor planning.
“These failings resulted in misery for 360,000 people whose passports experienced severe delays. It’s astonishing that even today the Passport Office hasn’t attempted to find out how many of these people had to cancel holidays or were unable to travel for family weddings or other big occasions.
“This has given the committee real concern as to whether the Passport Office really understands how much it needs to improve if the public are to get the level of service they’re entitled to expect.”
