asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs why the Passport Office requires to see the birth certificates of applicants for 10-year passports who have previously held visitor's passports, when they are aware that a birth certificate has to be produced on application for the latter.

A birth certificate is only one of the alternative documents which can be produced at a post office when applying for a British visitor's passport. A medical card or retirement pensioner's book is also acceptable. The production of a British visitor's passport does not, therefore, tell the Passport Office which document was produced at the post office.