Printing and distribution is now handled by De La Rue, on behalf of the Identity and Passport Service (IPS), a move away from the process previously handled by a raft of global processing centres of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO).

Green said: "The British passport is one of the most secure documents of its kind in the world.

"This milestone means IPS customers around the world can be more confident than ever that their passport will be handled safely and delivered to their door via the new secure delivery service."

He added: "We will continually seek to improve our processes to provide an efficient high quality service to customers."

Since the transition to IPS started in June, nearly 50,000 passports have been produced for British people living in countries such as Hong Kong, Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.

The Home Office said it expected De La Rue to annually print around 380,000 extra passports as part of the deal.