Fifty-three separate pieces of information on travellers to and from Britain could be provided to the Government in a £1.2 billion drive to improve security at ports and airports, it was disclosed yesterday.

Airlines and ships will have to provide nine basic details about travellers, including their name, sex, date of birth, nationality, type of travel document and the issuing state. But if airlines and ships have more information about their passengers, the Government wants them to hand it over so that it can be cross-checked against lists of criminals and suspects created by the security services, Immigration Service and police.

Among the details that the Government wants carriers to hand over are the date on which a travel reservation was made, the intended date of travel, the passenger’s address and contact telephone numbers including the travel agent and hotel.

The details even include baggage tag numbers issued at check-in, all changes made to a flight reservation, whether a person is travelling first, club or economy class, and the time that a passenger checked in. The huge increase in the amount of information required was disclosed as the Home Office announced that £1.2 billion was to be spent over the next decade in developing an electronic borders programme.

A Home Office report said that the “e-borders programme. . . has at its heart a system of intelligent passenger management.”

It added: “It will focus on the routine and comprehensive capture and analysis of passenger, crew and service data. The comprehensive movement record will provide enhanced national security and counter terrorism capability.”

However, the report said that there could be a “potential impact” on reservation and check-in processes as carriers gathered the information. It also estimated that it would add 14p to the average cost of every journey.

Liam Byrne, the Immigration Minister, said: “All our tests show it [checking] works and there’s over 1,000 arrests to prove it. By locking passengers to their identity we will create a new offshore line of defence, helping genuine travellers but stopping those who pose a risk before they travel.”

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• TV bidding war starts over Olympics
• Sofas were larger than life in TV adverts
• Driver pays fine with wheelbarrow of pennies