To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his Department plans to begin issuing passports containing fingerprint data; and how many such passports it expects to issue in each of the five years following their introduction. (310655)

[holding answer 14 January 2010]: The National Identity Service will provide the capability to enrol people on the National Identity Register and issue second generation passports and identity cards, capable of holding facial images and fingerprints. From 2012, once fingerprint biometric passports are introduced we intend that everyone should have the choice of having a fingerprint biometric passport, a fingerprint biometric identity card, or both documents with their identity details and biometrics recorded on the National Identity Register.

The National Identity Service cost report shows the total volume of passports and identity cards predicted to be issued each year over the cost report period. As published in the October 2009 National Identity Service cost report, over the time period April 2012 to March 2017, we expect to have issued approximately 49 million products (48.7 is the total in the October cost report—p7).