Responding to figures released by the Identity and Passport Service concerning the number of lost and stolen passport Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Nick Clegg MP said:
“Many of the 600,000 documents recorded as lost or stolen may have been mislaid by individuals, but many others will have fallen into the hands of criminals and even terrorists. It is a worrying loophole in security, and a stark warning of the abuses we are likely to see with ID cards.
“The recent introduction of so-called secure delivery has clearly not eradicated the problem of passports being stolen from the post. This suggests that criminals have found ways to compromise the new delivery system. We urgently need to know how these documents were taken, and what has been done about it.”
Commenting on this latest development arising from his Parliamentary Answer Mr Hosie said: "On top of this astronomical figure of over 600,000 who knows how many have not been reported missing. In light of this news, and with increasing concerns over identity theft and fraud, I would urge everyone who has a passport to check where it is right as soon as possible.
"These figures are incredible and they underscore the need for tighter security and checks when it comes to passports.
"It makes it all the more concerning that we have 1,500 passports going missing in transit to government and public agencies.
"The Home Office need to review secure delivery methods for passports as a matter of urgency. It needs to be made far, far more robust and, maybe, without confirmation of their identity, they should not be delivered.
"We can't have this level of losses of passports where identity fraud and theft is very real and where terrorism is a threat."
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Quelle/Source: Publictechnology, 19.05.2006
