To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many pensioners have taken up their entitlement to free passports, broken down by (a) county and (b) constituency, grouped according to region. (100716)

The Identity and Passport Service does not ask passport holders to keep their address up to date on our database. Therefore, the Identity and Passport Service cannot identify the number of current residents by geographical area who have taken advantage of the scheme to issue free passports to applicants born on or before 2 September 1929.

However for residents of the United Kingdom, 376,668 people born on or before 2 September 1929 have had their entitlement to free passports fulfilled by the Identity and Passports Service up until 30 September 2006.