§ Mr. Pawseyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will ensure that the passports of the deceased are returned to the Passport Office to prevent their fraudulent use.
§ Mr. WhitneyEach British passport contains a note explaining that it should be submitted for cancellation to the nearest British passport issuing authority on the death of the holder. Since British passport holders die all over the world and there is no central agency where deaths throughout the world are recorded, it would be impracticable for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to attempt to ensure that the passports of all deceased persons are in fact surrendered.
To guard against the possibility of fraudulent misuse, various security devices are incorporated in British passports which make it difficult for personal particulars to be altered or photographs to be substituted without such tampering being immediately apparent.