Mr. Niall Burgess:

I will give Deputy Sherlock a very brief answer on that. I am happy to bring Barbara Jones, who is managing the passport service, in on this as well. Essentially, we are prioritising the passport service and the passport backlog at present.

The processing of foreign births registrations is extremely complex and extremely time consuming and, therefore, we are not processing foreign births registrations, FBR, applications as a priority. We are, however, processing emergency foreign birth registration applications. By that, I mean where an application has been submitted which is critical to passing on citizenship to the child of an applicant, we will process that application as a priority. Otherwise, our intention is, in the autumn, as we overhaul the backlog and we return to normal processing times for the passport service, to tackle what is now an accruing backlog in the foreign births registrations. I am joined by Ms Barbara Jones who. with your permission, Chairman, may wish to add anything on this.