Mr. Mark Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has any plans to increase the fees for passports and for consular services.
§ Mr. TomlinsonYes. An Order in Council has recently been published which provides for increases with effect from 6th March 1978. In general, fees for passport services will be raised by 10 per cent. on the levels established in 1977. The fee for a standard passport, which was last increased on 7th February 1977, will rise from £10 to £11 and there are commensurate increases in most other passport services fees. The fee for a British visitor's passport rises to £5.50. Fees for consular services, which are performed mainly abroad, are also being raised so as to produce an estimated overall increase in revenue of about 10 per cent.
These increases are necessary to meet the rising costs of the passport offices in the United Kingdom and the consular services overseas.