§ Mr. AmessTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the date for the introduction of the EEC standard passport; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he will estimate the total cost of replacing existing British passports with the EEC standard format passport.
§ Mr. RentonWork is well advanced on plans for the introduction of a computerised system to enable British passports to be issued in the format adopted by the EEC and to be machine-readable internationally.
It is planned to commence operation of the system in the Glasgow passport office from July this year. Its phased implementation in other passport offices should be complete by the end of 1989. The cost of producing a British passport in the new format will not be greater than that of producing the existing passport. In preparing passport offices to receive and operate a computer-based system for the issue of machine-readable British passports in the format adopted by member states of the EEC, we estimate that the Home Office will incur capital expenditure of about £7 million. The overall aim of computerisation is to achieve greater efficiency in the passport-issuing process.