Tyson Hepple, former Home Office director of international criminality and extradition, started as interim director general on Monday, 10 November, and will lead the organisation until a permanent DG is appointed.
In October, HMPO was absorbed by the home office after delays to passport applications caused a significant backlog; following two reviews commissioned by the Home Secretary, it was decided that the post of chief executive would be abolished and replaced by a director general.
Home Office permanent secretary Mark Sedwill said: “I am pleased to announce that Tyson Hepple will take over as acting director general of Her Majesty’s Passport Office.
“Tyson played a key role in helping the organisation during the summer and I am grateful to him for stepping in to this new role.”
Former chief executive of the HMPO Paul Pugh, who was accused of ‘complete management failure’ for not effectively respond to delays, will retain his responsibility as registrar general until a permanent successor is appointed.
Sedwill said:“I’d like to take this opportunity again to thank Paul and all the staff at HMPO for the huge effort put in to responding to what was a very challenging situation.”
HMPO have started a recruitment campaign for a permanent director general and hope to fill the role by the end of the year.