Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 29 July (HL1278), what assessment they have made of the potential for using polymer in new forgery proof passports.

The security features contained within the existing passport design, which was launched in November 2015, are expected to remain as they are until the end of the print fulfilment contract with De La Rue PLC, which runs until July 2019.

We are currently in the early stages of the tendering process for a replacement to that contract; as part of that process we will assess the likely costs and benefits of using polymer in the next generation of passport design.