Written question asked by Chris Huhne (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 18 November 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 24 November 2008. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Wednesday, 26 November 2008 on behalf of the Home Office.

Passports: Fees and Charges

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the costs are expected to be for adults applying for a passport for the first time to provide the necessary biometric information in each year between 2008-09 and 2017-18.

Answer: [holding answer 24 November 2008]: In the future, it is proposed that the cost of biometric recording will be set by an open market where multiple providers compete against each other to deliver biometric recording services in line with standards established by the Identity and Passport Service (IPS). IPS is currently engaging with private and wider public sector organisations on how they might be able to help to record digital photographs, together with fingerprint data for passport and identity card applications as well as providing directly related services such as document collection. As such, exact costs for biometric enrolment are not yet known.

Secondary information