UK passports face massive price hike

The cost of a passport is set to increase "substantially" over the next five years to cover the cost of larger electronic chips that will hold more data and fingerprints.

Fees for adult UK passports have risen by £45 between 1998 and 2006 to £66 with the introduction of the first biometric ePassports. The UK switched to ePassports in 2006 to comply with the US Visa Waiver Programme. These passports contain chips that store biographical data and a digital facial image of the holder.

But a report by parliamentary spending watchdog the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) warns the cost could increase even more with the introduction of the second generation ePassports in 2009.

silicon.com's A to Z of Biometrics

Click on the links below to find out everything you'll need to know about biometric security.

A is for Accuracy
B is for Behavioural biometric
C is for Cash machine
D is for Database
E is for Ear
F is for Facial recognition
G is for Gummi bears
H is for Hand geometry
I is for Iris
J is for Juan Vucetich
K is for Keystroke dynamics
L is for Liveness testing
M is for Mobile phones
N is for Network security
O is for Oxford
P is for Palm
Q is for Queues
R is for Registration
S is for Signature verification
T is for Twins
U is for Universality
V is for Voice verification
W is for Walk
X is for X-ray
Y is for Young
Z is for Zurich Airport

The report stated: "Larger capacity chips will be needed to hold the basic data and fingerprint image and more locations and additional staff will be needed to collect biometric data from adult applicants."

MPs on PAC have also raised concerns about the durability of the chips being used in existing ePassports. To meet the US Visa Waiver deadline the UK's Identity and Passport Service was forced to accept a manufacturer's guarantee of only a two-year lifetime for the chips, even though passports are issued for 10 years.

Edward Leigh MP, chair of PAC, said the public needs to know how durable the chip is and who will pay for a replacement passport if it stops working.

He said in the report: "The prospect of ePassport failures contributing to yet further delays at border controls is not an enticing one."

The report also questions the need for both an ePassport and a national identity card, which will contain similar data.

Leigh said: "Most of us are going to have to have both an ePassport and an identity card. The Home Office needs to explain why an ePassport could not serve both purposes."

But the introduction of ePassports is also praised as a model government IT project, delivered on time and within its budget of £62m.

The PAC report said: "The agency planned from the outset for a cautious, low-risk project. The prototype ePassport and the manufacturing process were both subject to substantial testing, and the agency gave itself enough time for a progressive rollout rather than a big-bang switch from digital to ePassport."