§ 14. Mr. John Huntasked the Lord Privy Seal what would be the estimated cost of refunding the fees paid by those United Kingdom citizens who obtained British visitor's passports during the recent industrial action at 131W passport offices who were subsequently issued with the full British passports for which they had originally applied.
§ Mr. LuceAlthough statistics are not available, it is estimated that about 300,000 applications for standard passports remained outstanding at the end of the period of industrial action. On the assumption that most of these applicants obtained a British visitor's passport, the amount involved, if refunds were to be made, could be about £1½ million. This figure does not include additional administrative costs.