Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of granting passports with a five year duration to people aged over 75 at a reduced cost.

HM Passport Office issues 10 year passports to adults and 5 year passports to children under 16, and there are currently no plans to review this.

Passports are issued with a shorter validity for children for security reasons, due to the rapid change of appearance as the child grows; this is charged at a lower price due to the costs being spread across all passport fees. Making passports available with a shorter validity to additional age groups would require subsidy by other customers and impact the passport fee.

A special concession is offered for applicants born before 2 September 1929, who can apply for a passport free of charge. This was introduced for the Second World War generation in recognition of their contribution to the national effort during the war years.