Mr. Niall Burgess:

The issue this year has been getting the right staff in place at the right time of the year and holding on to those staff. I mentioned that we manage the surge in passport applications in the first half of the year with temporary staff. We are finding it harder this year to hold on to the temporary staff we recruited and trained in January. They are leaving because they are getting other opportunities, so staff turnover is higher in the Passport Office. This means we need to look again at the balance between full-time staff and temporary staff when we come to next year.

On stolen passports, I will ask Ms Penollar to speak about the integrity dimension, which is a big part of the passport's work, and which goes unspoken and unreported to a large extent.