Passport Fees (Hansard, 24 October 2002)

§ Lord Falconer of Thoroton

The Privy Council has made an Order in Council, the Consular Fees (No.2) Order 2002, which gives authority for a revision in passport fees. The revision will take effect on 21 November 2002. The fee for a standard 32-page passport will increase from £30 to £33, while the fee for a 48-page passport will remain at £40. The fee for amending an existing passport will increase from £18 111WA to £22.50. The cost of a passport for a child will increase from £16 to £19. The additional charges for those making use of the guaranteed fast track and premium services available from the United Kingdom Passport Service (UKPS) counters remain unchanged at £30 and £45 respectively. The fee for a collective passport, for organised trips for schools and youth groups, will decrease from £42 to £39. The order also increases fees for passport applications made overseas to British consular posts. There will be an increase from £49 to £54.40 for a standard 32-page passport, an increase from £60 to £65.20 for a 48-page passport, an increase from £29 to £34.70 for a child passport and an increase from £30 to £33.90 for an emergency passport.

Passport fees are set at the level needed to cover the costs of passport issuing, including, in this case, the recovery of certain deficits accrued before 1999 and the costs of providing overseas consular protection services which are not covered by other fees. The changes set out in the order follow a careful review of costs to ensure that the fee for each type of passport service closely reflects the production costs and past deficits accrued by that service and bears its share of the cost of consular protection services. In relation to the cost of travel abroad, the new fees still represent very good value for money.