§ Mr. SwayneTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make temporary arrangements to enable children who have reached the age of 16 years to continue to travel on a parent's passport until the current backlog of passport applications has been processed; and if he will make a statement. [86844]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienI have no plans to make temporary arrangements for children who have reached the age of 16 years to continue to travel on a parent's passport. It is common international practice to require children who have reached 16 to have their own passport. This has been the very long established practice of the United Kingdom and it would be very difficult to ensure the acceptance by immigration officials throughout the world of a United Kingdom passport where a child having reached 16 remained on a parent's passport. Families could experience difficulties at exit and entry points with the relevant authorities questioning the validity of passports. Also, the numbers of children reaching 16 who are included in passports and wish to travel urgently would be relatively small and seeking to introduce temporary measures to deal with these would not be effective in easing current operational pressures.