§ Mr LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will provide members of Her Majesty's diplomatic service with passports which clarify their diplomatic status in accordance with the practice of other countries.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThis matter was recently reviewed and the Government have decided to issue diplomatic and official passports to members of Her Majesty's service when serving abroad, staff from other Departments on 135W long-term attachments at our overseas posts and accompanying dependants. The new passports, for which the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will be responsible, are intended to clarify diplomatic status and remove scope for misunderstanding. They will be identical to standard common format passports except for the addition of "diplomatic" or "official" on the cover and two inside pages. This measure will rectify a long-standing anomaly in Britain's passport issuing practice and bring our diplomatic personnel into line with their colleagues elsewhere.