HL Deb 28 November 2001 vol 629 cc39-40WA
Lord Marlesford

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Lord Rooker on 14 November (WA 82), whether it is the case that in less than 10 per cent of cases of deaths of holders of valid United Kingdom passports the passports are returned for cancellation; if so, whether they regard this as satisfactory; and, whether they intend to take steps to deal with this situation. [HL1438]

Lord Rooker

There are no arrangements requiring the Government to be routinely notified of the death of a United Kingdom passport holder. Therefore, it is not possible to establish the proportion of cases in which a passport is returned for cancellation following the death of the holder.

The United Kingdom Passport Service believes it would be helpful to know of all deaths of United Kingdom passport holders and is considering what measures it can take to achieve this.