The agency that produces passports has been renamed – Her Majesty’s Passport Office.
Formerly the Identity and Passport Service, the new name is designed to make the service more easily recognised by British citizens at home and abroad.
It is also to mark the agency’s move from any association with the National Identity Service and ID cards.
Immigration Minister Mark Harper said: "This is a golden opportunity for the organisation formally to recognise in its title the integral role of The Crown which gives permission to issue passports under the Royal Prerogative.
"The new name of ‘Her Majesty’s Passport Office’ reflects the fact that the organisation is no longer responsible for government policy on identity but continues to provide a gold plated passport service to British nationals in the UK and abroad."
The Identity and Passport Service was created in 2006 by a merger of the UK Passport Service and the Home Office Identity Cards programme.
It is no longer responsible for government policy on identity.
Her Majesty’s Passport Office is a self-funding organisation with the passport fees ccovering the cost of providing the service.
The service will process more than five million applications for passports each year.
