§ 40. Sir Anthony Royleasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will give an assurance that, as the materials used by Community countries in the new European passport will not necessarily be identical, the British European passport will incorporate a similar hard cover to the current British passport.
§ Mr. LuardThe European Economic Community uniform passport will remain356W a national passport issued by each member State. Governments will harmonise the design, but we expect them to continue to issue passports in their own materials. The British Government have given no consideration to a change in the material used for the cover.
§ Mr. Adleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Comonwealth Affairs how many British passports have been reported by their owners to the Passport Office as having been lost by the United States Embassy in London during processing for United States visas for the last 12 months period.
§ Mr. LuardPrecise figures are not available, but I can say that it has been extremely rare for the United States Embassy to lose a British passport irretrievably. The hon. Member probably has in mind a number of cases which arose this summer where, because the United States Embassy was unable readily to locate a British passport within its visa-issuing processes, a replacement had to be issued to meet an urgent travel need. I am glad to say those difficulties have now been resolved.