EUROPEAN HEALTH INSURANCE CARDS

That this House notes that the Government provides EU Health Insurance cards free of charge, despite not being required so to do by European social security regulations 883/2004 and 987/2009; is concerned that after the last administration introduced this bureaucracy in June 2004, the cost to the taxpayer has increased to 3.5 million in 2009-10; is further concerned that these cards serve no purpose greater than identification abroad and in essence do the same job as a passport; and calls on the Government to scrap the provision of EU Health Insurance cards altogether, spend the money on frontline services, and use the tried and tested British passport for identification abroad instead.