Passport Office apologises for defacing ‘Israel’ on birth certificate

THE head of the passport office has personally apologised to a family after the word “Israel” on their baby’s birth certificate was defaced by contractors.

Tom Pursglove, the immigration minister, has disclosed that Jo Rowland, the director general of the Passport Office, has “apologised unreservedly” and “directly” to the family and also provided them with a replacement certificate.

Mr Pursglove made the disclosure in a letter to Sir Michael Ellis, the former attorney general, who had raised the case with the Home Office.

Mr Pursglove admitted the investigation was still ongoing, six weeks after it emerged that the birth certificate had been damaged and defaced.

He said that a “small number” of the contractors’ staff remained suspended as the investigation continued to identify the individual responsible.

“I remain firm that the Home Office does not tolerate anti-Semitism or other types of discrimination,” Mr Pursglove told Sir Michael.

“I continue to take this incident extremely seriously and, while I cannot preempt the outcome of the investigation, my officials are in no doubt of the need to ensure that such an issue must not be repeated in the future.”

The family from Edgware, north London, sent off the document on Feb 6 to obtain a British passport for their baby daughter Ronnie.

But when they received the returned certificate on Monday, the place of birth for her father – Israel – had been scribbled out with a black pen.

The girl’s father, whose name is Israel, claimed the certificate arrived ripped, in a soft envelope and invalidated.

The engineering company owner, 32, demanded an apology and explanation from the Home Office and a new certificate.

He told The Telegraph: “My wife was

‘I remain firm that the Home Office does not tolerate antiSemitism’

very, very upset. The baby isn’t even six months and is already suffering discrimination.

“It’s like going back to the Nazi 1930s when Jewish documents had notes on the side.”

Israel and his wife Dorin, 29, have lived in Britain for almost a decade.

The Paris-based contractor Sopra Steria said it was “shocked and saddened” by the allegations and is carrying out a “full investigation into the handling of the documentation”.