To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost of each (a) biometric passport reader and (b) identity card reader is expected to be. (243419)

Readers for the current first generation of e-passport, incorporating facial image biometrics, are already in place at immigration posts at the United Kingdom border. Precise costs for readers for the second generation of e-passports and identity cards, incorporating fingerprint biometrics, are not yet available.