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UK ID cards will be useless in Europe

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

ACCORDING TO the UK’s Identity Minister, the Government’s ID cards won’t be worth the paper they’ll be printed on.

Despite the fact that the cards are almost in UK citizens’ wallets there is still a lot of work needed to raise awareness about them and their uses, particularly outside the British Isles.

In an interview with the Oldham Evening Chronicle, Lord Brett said that if holders leave the country and try to use the cards as some form of ID they will be met with blank faces and, we presume, Gallic shrugs.

Lord Brett said, “When we do launch it, we want to make sure all our ducks are in a row, it is not just marketing and selling the card to people who want to have it but to make sure first of all that all the countries in Europe will accept it and understand it as a travel document.” He added that unless this was the case there would be “no day one” for the cards.

Further damning the roll out, Brett said that the Police did not have the right to demand to see them, despite government claims that they will have a use in the fight against terrorism.

Brett also revealed the numbers of people who had already signed up to willingly receive the cards. In a display of underwhelming public support, 8,000 people have added their names to the list. Brett added, “It says what it does on the tin, it is your identity card, it is entirely voluntary.”

Meanwhile, millions of UK citizens have wisely chosen not to tear up their passports and driving licenses just yet, if ever.

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Privacy Breaches By ID Card Staff

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

Nine staff have been sacked from their local authority jobs for snooping on personal records of celebrities and personal acquaintances held on the core database of the government’s National Identity Scheme.

Mark Ballard

They are among 34 council workers who illegally accessed the Customer Information System (CIS) database, which holds the biographical data of the population that will underpin the government’s multi-billion-pound ID card programme.

The disclosures, obtained by Computer Weekly using the Freedom of Information Act, will add to calls for the government to come clean over the security of the National Identity Scheme.

The CIS database, run by the Department for Work and Pensions, stores up to 9,800 items of information on 92 million people, including sensitive data, such as ethnicity, relationship history, whether someone is being investigated for fraud and whether they have special needs.

Freedom of information requests by Computer Weekly, have uncovered a string of breaches by council workers:

Cardiff and Glasgow councils sacked staff after they looked up celebrities’ personal records
Tonbridge and Bromley councils sacked workers for looking up their friends
Brent sacked someone who looked at their girlfriend’s details
A worker at Torfaen was sacked for looking at his own details

But this may just be the tip of the iceberg. Many of the breaches were discovered after sample checks, raising concerns that other breaches may gone undetected.

Over 200,000 government officials have access to the database, including staff at 480 local authorities, and numerous government departments, including the Department of Work and Pensions, HM Revenue & Customs, and the Courts Service. The Child Support Agency uses the CIS to trace missing parents,

Gus Hosein, a management systems academic with the London School of Economics, said that breaches were inevitable.

“Human nature and the propensity of governments to abuse privacy means that the only real safeguard is to not collect this information in the first place,” he said. “Create a central store and you will get abuse”.

A DWP spokesman said, “The small number of incidents shows that the CIS security system is working and is protected by several different audit and monitoring controls, which actively manage and report attempts at unauthorised or inappropriate access.”

In other breaches discovered by Computer Weekly, Exeter sacked someone for being unable to justify an access to the database. Hertsmere and Penwith (now part of Cornwall) councils sacked people for looking at records they shouldn’t, but couldn’t say what the records were.

Carmarthenshire Council disciplined a person who illegally used the CIS to look at the records in July 2008 of someone “known personally” to them, but refused to give details. Solihull took disciplinary action after a CIS breach in February 2008.

Peter Sommer, visiting professor at the London School of Economics Information Systems Integrity Group, said, “Any system in which you have a large number of users can never be secure. Instead of giving generalised assurances, the government should say explicitly what level of security failures they consider to be acceptable. Politically, that is a very awkward thing to say.”

The government plans to extend use of the CIS, beyond its present community of DWP government partners and customers. Its next phase of development, called CISx (CIS cross-government), will give access to departments such as the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.

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ID cards and the snooper state

Sunday, July 26th, 2009

IT IS simply wrong of James Hall, CEO of the Identity & Passport Service, to suggest that the personal information stored on the National Identity Register is equivalent to the data already collected for passports.

The passport database requires only a single name and address at the time of application, together with a copy of the holder’s passport photograph.

Schedule 1 of the Identity Cards Act 2006 (http://tinyurl.com/IDsched1) describes 50 classes of information that may be stored on the ID database.

These data include every name by which an applicant has been known, every place of residence (in the UK or elsewhere), a photograph, signature, fingerprints and “other” biometric information (eg iris scans), national insurance number, driver number, passport and identity card numbers issued by other countries, and much else besides.

Anyone enrolling on the ID database will be subjecting themselves to lifelong reporting requirements. There are severe financial penalties for failure to keep the authorities notified of any change of detail.

Furthermore, the ID database will store information of a kind that no government department has ever had access to before, except where the security services have placed suspects under surveillance.

The national identity register’s audit trail will record every occasion on which an identity is verified, such as stays in hotels and visits to clinics, providing a detailed profile of every citizen’s life.

Dr Geraint Bevan, Glasgow

UNDER the Identity Cards Act 2006 the Identity and Passport Service has become a branch of the snooper state. Everyone registered for an identity card will subsequently have to report every change in their circumstances on pain of a fine of up to £1,000, and be forced to re-register every ten years or face more large fines. Greatly increased amounts of information about citizens will be kept on a new £6bn database, funded by inflated £77 passport fees. Logging ID card usage in the database will allow government to monitor citizens’ daily lives.

No democratic government has ever tried to track its population’s movements in this way. Whitehall’s identity cards scheme has no place in our country, and must be scrapped immediately.

Andrew Watson, Cambridge

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Indians to get biometric ID cards

Friday, July 17th, 2009

The Indian government plans to give all of its 1.2 billion citizens biometric ID cards, and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani will lead the project.

The project team will face a huge challenge in securing the information stored, which will be a target for hackers. But unlike the UK, the general population are likely to accept the cards.

The project is going to cost an estimated £3bn. The UK ID cards scheme was expected to cost £5.3bn and the UK government has now abandoned its plan to make ID cards compulsory. There was lot of opposition to the scheme in the UK.

Nandan Nilekani, who left Infosys to lead the project, has described it as a “humongous, mind-boggling challenge”, according to The Telegraph.

Infosys said it accepts Nilekani’s decision to leave with “a sense of duty to a larger cause, but with deep sadness”.

The ID scheme is an attempt to fight corruption and could identify illegal immigrants and tackle terrorism.

Each card will contain personal data and proof of identity, such as fingerprint or iris scans. It will be linked to a central database.

Kris Lakshmikanth, managing director at Indian recruitment firm Headhunters, said it will take a decade to do this. He doubts the project will get the same level of opposition as the UK scheme because the general population are not aware of the privacy risks.

But he is concerned about the security. “I am sure hackers will hack into the database,” he said.

Pradipta Bagchi, head of communications at Indian IT supplier TCS, said the biggest challenge will not be IT but getting all the states and government departments involved to agree.

He said it is an ambitious IT project. “India is a massive country and a lot of it is rural. It also has a lot of different types of ID in circulation.”

Bagchi said he is not concerned about having to carry an ID card. “Security will be an issue, but in India we have not seen too many incidents of data getting lost.”

NR Narayana Murthy, chairman at Infosys, said, “We are glad that an extraordinary individual like Nandan has got an opportunity to add value to India through this position. As a company that has always put the interest of the society ahead of itself, Infosys will accept his absence with a sense of duty to a larger cause, but with deep sadness at the departure of one of her most illustrious sons. We, the Infoscions, wish him the best in his new assignment.”

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IBM biometrics ID cards contract to last 7 years

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

IBM’s contract to supply technology for ID cards will last seven years, despite the possibility that a change in government could scupper the scheme.

The company and the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) announced the contract term on Friday. In April, IBM was awarded the contract to administer the National Biometric Identity Service (NBIS) database, which will hold identifying information such as facial images and fingerprints. The NBIS is used for biometric passports and for the National Identity Register (NIR), which will be used in issuing ID cards under the government scheme.

“This contract will provide a secure database for storing facial and fingerprint images for the next generation of biometric passports and will support the delivery of the National Identity card,” said IPS chief executive James Hall in a statement on Friday.

The Conservative Party has pledged to scrap the ID cards scheme if it wins the next general election, which will be in 2010 at the latest. On Friday, the party said that it would take a close look at all ID card-related contracts if it came to power.

“We will scrutinise these contracts closely but the Conservatives are committed to dropping the ID cards scheme and the national register,” shadow immigration minister Damian Green told silicon.com sister site ZDNet UK on Friday.

The Conservative Party told ID card contractors in June that its “firm policy” is to abandon the National Identity Scheme. It urged contractors not to sign any new deals, and warned against “poison pill” contractual break clauses designed to prevent the cancellation of the project.

Former home secretary Jacqui Smith acknowledged in March that to cancel two of the ID card contracts would cost £40m. The Home Office told ZDNet UK that cancelling IBM’s NBIS contract would incur costs.

“There would be a cost in the event of the contract being broken,” said a Home Office spokesperson. “The cost would depend on the length of time that had elapsed after the contract was signed.” The spokesperson added that termination clauses in contracts are normal.

IBM will mainly use its own hardware and software to operate and integrate the NBIS database, and is the prime contractor, the IPS said on Friday. The company said on Friday that it has subcontracted work to Atos Origin, which will provide integration and operations support, and to Sagem Sécurité, which will supply biometrics services and software.

The IPS and IBM have also signed a deal for the company to supply a replacement for the UK Border Agency’s Immigration and Asylum Fingerprint System, which holds visa applicants’ biometrics.

National Identity Scheme contractors also include CSC, which has a contract to upgrade UK passport application systems.

Tom Espiner

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Don’t be fooled by ID Card “change”

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

The card itself is just the useless bit of plastic that is the visible part of the scheme, and is the only part that will become voluntary.

The truly intrusive part of the scheme, the National Identity Register, remains compulsory.

This expensive scheme, that serves no purpose other than Government intrusion into our private lives, will go ahead.

Whenever we apply for or renew a “designated document”, which includes such everyday things as driving licence and passport, we will be required to provide details for storage on the National Identity Register.

At a time when reductions in public spending are being sought, surely this should be near the top of the list for things to be abandoned.

The money saved could, together with that saved from scrapping the Trident upgrade, be used to properly fund a real Green New Deal (not the paltry Labour version that the New Economics Foundation was quick to criticise as only 0.6 per cent new green investment).

I would be interested to know how our local MPs intend to vote on this issue.

JILL PERRY
Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for Copeland

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NO2ID: ID Cards are not ‘voluntary’

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

Readers may be aware that the Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, has announced that the planned ID cards will be “voluntary”, and that no-one will have to carry one.

However, the Government is still pressing ahead with its plan to make everyone who needs to update certain “designated documents” have to register personal details on the database behind the national ID card, the National Identity Register. In other words, when a reader of this paper renews their passport or driving licence after 2011 they will have to supply information which will go onto the National Identity Register and pay for an ID card whether they want one or not.

Moreover there will then be a fine of up to £1,000 for failing to inform the authorities of any alteration to the information you have been compelled to give, such as a change of address or name.

It is simply dishonest of the Government to describe the ID card scheme as now “voluntary” when you won’t be able to leave your own country or drive a vehicle unless you submit your personal details to the authorities to be included on the ID card register. I challenge our local MPs, Margaret Beckett, Bob Laxton and Mark Todd, all of whom have supported the ID card legislation, to explain in your columns to your readers what they understand by the word “voluntary”.

MPs are going to be voting in Parliament soon on the regulations underlying the ID card legislation and the “designated documents” in particular. Concerned readers have the opportunity to contact their MP and demand MPs do not support ID card legislation.

I would also urge concerned citizens to get involved with Derby no2id, the local branch of the campaign against compulsory ID cards and the database state. The next meeting of Derby no2id is on Tuesday, July 21, at the Friends Meeting House, St Helen’s Street, Derby DE1 3GY at 7.30pm. All are welcome. People can also contact me on derby@no2id.net.

Nick Wray
Local co-ordinator,
Derby no2id,
Highfield Road,
Derby.

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Government burying ID card costs in passports

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

The Conservatives have accused the government of burying the cost of ID cards in a hike in the price of passports.

Yesterday the government announced an increase in the price of a 10-year adult passport from £72 to £77.50 in the first passport fee rise for passport services in the UK since 2007. There will also be a rise of £3 to the cost of a child’s passport to £49.

The Home Office said the price hike was needed because demand for passports had fallen, but Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said the move appeared to bury part of the cost of the ID scheme in the price of a passport.

“The Government admits that it has no idea how many people will have to volunteer for ID cards before they cover their costs, so it looks like the cost is being lumped onto our passports,” he said.

Both passports and identity cards are funded from the same agency, the Identity and Passport Service, which is part of the Home Office.

The government has always maintained that many of the technology systems used for identity cards would also be used for biometric passports – including the biometrics national identity register.

In April IBM was awarded a £265m deal to build this biometrics database to support ID cards and passports, while CSC has been given a £385m deal to upgrade the application and enrolment system, which is intended to be used for both passports and ID cards.

Earlier this week home secretary Alan Johnson insisted the government was still committed to the ID card scheme despite plans to issue the second batch of cards to airside workers at Machester and London City airports being abandoned.

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ID cards are not being scrapped but accelerated

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

Home secretary Alan Johnson has flatly denied killing off the ID card programme with his announcement last week that the scheme will be entirely voluntary for UK citizens.

He delivered the denial in a Commons debate in which a Tory demand for the plan to be dropped was defeated by 293 votes to 206.

A government motion insisting the cards will help secure individuals’ identity and reduce multiple ID fraud was carried by 283 votes to 203 despite intense speculation about the programme’s future.

Johnson announced last week that airside workers at London City and Manchester airports can decide for themselves whether to apply for cards, a U-turn on original plans to make them compulsory for workers in such a security-sensitive role.

He started the debate with the declaration: “We havent scrapped cards. What we are doing is accelerating their introduction.

The airports decision was a victory for the trade unions representing the 20,000 workers involved.

The compulsory rollout of cards to 50,000 non-European Union or European economic zone workers is proceeding, although a target of 50,000 signed up by the end of March was missed by half.

Johnson claimed consistent public support for ID cards and denounced as ” ludicrous” Tory claims that scrapping the programme would save a large sum, because biometric passports and the national identity register would have to proceed in any case.

He was ridiculed by Labour rebels Andrew Mackinlay, who said he was presiding over “the denouement of a failed policy” and David Winnick, who said the whole idea of British citizens carrying such a card was “distasteful”.

Tory spokesman Damian Green protested about a statutory instrument also due to be passed that would impose penalties on holders for failing to keep card information up to date.

And shadow Tory home secretary Chris Grayling ridiculed the idea of volu ntary cards whose sole purpose would be to enable young drinkers in pubs to prove their age. He said taxpayers faced a bill for “billions of pounds”.

Grayling confirmed the Tory pledge to cancel this “massive national folly” if they win the next election.

Johnson retorted that he is now “more convinced than ever that the national identity service is a sane and rational policy that needs to be implemented, rather than scrapped, and accelerated, rather than delayed, and accused Grayling of being “a covert supporter” who had switched sides.

The home secretary insisted the programme is “on time and on schedule” and would help deal with the problem of identity fraud.

Liberal Democrat spokesman Chris Huhne said the government was living in ” cloud cuckoo land” if it thought the project could be delivered on its claimed budget and warned that students repeatedly changing addresses would be hard hit by fines of up to £1,000 for failing to re-register each move.

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Battle for ID cards hits the Commons

Monday, July 6th, 2009

ID cards have finally reached the Commons again, with a Conservative opposition day debate on the scheme due for debate this afternoon.

The opposition is calling for the plan to be scrapped altogether.

This has been given additional momentum by Alan Johnson’s decision to make the scheme entirely voluntary for its duration.

But the Liberal Democrats have urged civil libertarians to treat the Tory commitment to scrapping the scheme cautiously, citing their muted response to The National Identity Register.

Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: “It’s always been hard to take the Tories seriously on ID cards since they originally backed them when they were introduced by the government.

“It is time for the Conservatives to come clean. It’s easy to suggest scrapping unnecessary pieces of plastic but where do they stand on the National Identity Register?

“The Liberal Democrats’ principled defence of civil liberties includes opposing the sinister central database. This is a clear challenge to the Tories to put their cards on the table.”

Opponents of the cards remain unconvinced by Mr Johnson’s claim the cards will never be mandatory, citing the ease with which a future government could call for voluntary scheme to be made legally enforceable.

Ian Dunt www.politics.co.uk

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Home Secretary ditched ID cards without telling Brown

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

GORDON Brown’s main rival for the Labour leadership tore up the government’s key ID card policy without informing the Prime Minister, it was reported last night.

The Home Secretary Alan Johnson is said to have surprised the Prime Minister and his senior advisers by declaring that holding an identity card would never be compulsory for British citizens.

Last night, reports suggested that No 10 had no idea that the Home Secretary would arbitrarily change the previous policy, which was that ministers would make ID cards compulsory.

Suggestions of friction between the two politicians has re-ignited speculation that Johnson’s name will once again become associated with plots to take over the Labour leadership before the next general election. Johnson, a former postman, has always declared he would not challenge the Prime Minister.

Johnson, who was recently promoted from Health Secretary to the Home Office, had been scheduled to make a low-key announcement last Tuesday, abandoning plans for ID card trials at two airports which would have made carrying them compulsory for some pilots and airline staff.

After doing so, however, he went much further and declared: “I want the introduction of identity cards for all British citizens to be voluntary.”

A government source said: “No 10 knew Alan was going to make the airports announcement. But they had no idea he would simply tear up the entire policy as far as compulsory cards were concerned.”

Brown has always insisted that he backs moves towards making ID cards compulsory – despite protests from Labour MPs and a pledge by the Tories they would abandon them if elected, saving an estimated £2 billion.

A Downing Street spokesman last night denied there was a “rift” between the Prime Minister and Johnson.

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Mandelson says No U-turn on ID cards

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

Home secretary Alan Johnson’s pledge that the government will not make ID cards compulsory is not a U-turn on policy, according to first secretary Lord Mandelson.

The business minister said the government had “always made clear we want to move to a full take-up of ID cards and what Alan Johnson has said is fully consistent with that.”

Mandelson was commenting on the announcement that the trials planned for airside Manchester and London City airport staff will no longer be compulsory.

Johnson also backed down on previously stated aims to make ID cards compulsory for all citizens at some point in the future.

But Mandelson insisted it had always been the government case that ID cards need not apply to every citizen of the country .

Mandelsons comments follow widespread speculation about the future of the scheme, and rumours that Johnson was less enthusiastic about ID cards than his predecessors.

The Tories claimed last week that key statutory instruments required before the scheme can proceed have still to be laid before Parliament, with just three weeks before MPs leave Westminster for their summer holidays.

Both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have said they would scrap the scheme if they came into power.

And a major IT contract for producing the cards themselves has been delayed until at least autumn 2010, after the next General Election.

Tory shadow home secretary Chris Grayling claimed Johnson had decided to beat “a partial retreat” and that this was “symbolic of a government in chaos”.

“They have spent millions on the scheme so far. The home secretary thinks it has been a waste and wants to scrap it, but the prime minister won’t let him. We end up with an absurd fudge instead,” he said.

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ID card U-turn under fire

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

The Home Secretary has come under renewed fire from civil liberties campaigners for distorting the truth about the compulsory introduction of Identity registration.

This week new Home Office supremo Alan Johnson backtracked on a proposal to force around 30,000 airport workers in Manchester and London to carry ID cards following the threat of legal action.

He announced however that the government was pressing ahead with and accelerating the voluntary roll-out of ID cards, while stating that the cards would not be compulsory for British citizens.

All foreign nationals in Britain are to be forced to carry identity cards and the Home Secretary said he wished to see this scheme fast-tracked.

But Mr Johnson did not mention that, under regulations due to go before Parliament, anyone renewing or applying for a British passport will have their details recorded on the National Identity Register.

The regulations would make passports a designated document under the national identity card scheme.

The regulations would also give the government the power to fine people up to £1,000 if they failed to inform the authorities of a change of address or change in personal details within three months.

When contacted by the Morning Star a Home Office spokesman confirmed that, “from 2011 anyone aged 16 or over applying for or renewing a passport will be enrolled on the on the National Identity Register.”

Critics of the scheme argue that this is just compulsory registration by another name.

Responding to the new Home Secretary’s announcement on ID cards, Liberty Director of Policy Isabella Sankey, said: “However you spin it, big ears, four legs and a long trunk still make an elephant.

“And this white elephant is as costly to privacy and race equality as to our purses.

“As long as entry on the National Identity Register is automatic when applying for a passport the ID scheme will be compulsory in practice.”

Paddy McGuffin

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Minister demands Government stop ID cards

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Minister for community safety Fergus Ewing has written to the new UK home secretary Alan Johnson asking for the scheme to be cancelled.

He has disputed claims by UK immigration minister Phil Woolas that the scheme would bring economic benefits to the UK, raising doubts about the figures quoted by the government.

Ewing said in the letter: “Given the current financial climate, I believe the UK government should have better uses for the vast sums of money being spent on this scheme which presents an unacceptable threat to citizens’ privacy and civil liberties, with little tangible evidence to suggest it will do anything to safeguard against crime and terrorism.

“In the midst of a deep recession, with more job losses announced nearly every day, it simply beggars belief that the UK government is pressing ahead with this costly scheme.”

Ewing said the assumptions behind Woolas’s claims – that the card would produce £6bn net economic benefit to the UK – are too uncertain over the relevant 30 year period, and that the argument that 70% of the expenditure is necessary for biometric passports is a “fallacy”.

“The UK government chose to commit to the EU standard biometric passports from 2012,” Ewing said. “They could have waited for international standards and technology solutions to emerge and to have collaborated and shared costs on that technology infrastructure.

“The UK government taking the lead in this has resulted in unnecessary up front expenditure on such things as research and development.”

In response, a spokesperson for the Identity and Passport Service said: “The home secretary has made clear that the government remains fully committed to bringing forward measures to protect people’s identity that have widespread public support.

“He has made it clear that ID cards are a manifesto commitment and that legislation governing their introduction was passed in 2006. We remain on progress to bring in what we believe has widespread support.”

GC News

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Is the writing on the wall for the Government’s ID card scheme?

Friday, June 19th, 2009

Why are we asking this now?

The Government had been due to award a key contract as part of its grand biometric ID card scheme this autumn. Three companies - Thales, Fujitsu and IBM - were bidding for the right to develop the cards’ design and handle their production. But this week the Home Office admitted a decision might not be made until the second half of 2010. This is the second delay to have hit the Government’s ID card scheme. Under the original plans, the widespread roll-out of the cards would have taken place next year. Now it is not due until 2012.

Why the latest delay?

The Home Office argues that commercial and technical considerations are responsible. But it has been noted that the decision comes at a time when the future of the scheme has never looked more precarious. This week the shadow Home Secretary, Chris Grayling wrote to companies who might be involved in producing the cards to warn them that the scheme would be cancelled if the Conservatives win power at the next election; something the opinion polls suggest is increasingly likely.

Why are the Tories opposed to the scheme?

The Tories and the Liberal Democrats have long maintained that the introduction of ID cards would undermine traditional civil liberties. The Tory leader, David Cameron attacked the scheme as “unBritish” this week. The Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne, has called the cards a “laminated poll tax”.

The smaller parties, from the SNP and Plaid Cymru, to the Green Party and UKIP, are also opposed. The Government claims the scheme would be useful in curbing illegal immigration, thwarting organised crime, and would make it easier for people to access public services. Opponents argue that it would be ineffective, intrusive and create new opportunities for fraudsters.

Are those the only objections?

Far from it. The cost of the scheme is another major reason why the scheme attracts opposition. The Government says the cost of producing biometric ID cards and passports over the next 10 years will be £4.8bn. At a time when all parties are looking for ways to reduce public spending, cancelling the scheme is seen as a relatively pain-free way of saving money.

The Home Office argues that 70 per cent of the £4.8bn would be spent on biometric passports, limiting the saving from scrapping the cards to around £1.2bn. But this ignores the fact that this Government has an unfortunate habit of underestimating the cost of large projects, particularly those involving computer databases. Dr Edgar Whitley of the London School of Economics estimates that the true cost of the scheme will end up between £10bn and £20bn. If that is closer to the truth, the potential savings begin to look rather more substantial.

Haven’t some contracts already been signed?

Yes. Four contracts have been concluded. Thales is running a pilot scheme. CSC is developing a passport and ID card application system. IBM has a contract to build a database to store fingerprint and facial biometrics. And De La Rue has a contract to produce biometric passports. The former Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, revealed in March that it would cost £40m for the Government to extricate itself from these contracts.

But much of the technology being developed under these agreements would be needed to develop biometric passports, which the Conservatives support. The key contract with the private sector would be the one to develop and produce the new cards themselves. That is why this latest delay is significant.

Is it wise for the Tories to write to companies threatening to overturn signed contracts?

The Tories say such drastic measures are needed to prevent the Government locking a future government into the scheme. But not everyone is impressed by this argument. Some point out that companies such as Thales are already fully aware that public procurement contracts, especially ones as controversial as ID cards, are at risk of being revisited and that they insert compensation clauses with this risk in mind. This makes the Conservative warnings unnecessary. It is suggested that the opposition would be better off concentrating its criticism on the Government, rather than seeking to put pressure on private firms.

What is the timetable for introducing ID cards?

Some 30,000 cards have already been issued to non-EU nationals living in Britain. Later this year, they will be given to workers at London City and Manchester airports. And this autumn British citizens living in Manchester will be given the chance to participate in a trial scheme.

From 2011/2012 the Identity and Passport Service plans to issue “significant volumes” of ID cards to people when they apply for a British passport, although they will be able to opt out of having a card.

This staged approach is deliberate. The Government hopes that support for the cards will grow when people witness how they can make their life easier. The Government says that if it wins the next general election it will give MPs a free vote on whether to make the cards compulsory for all UK citizens over the age of 16.

What is the view of the public at the moment on ID cards?

Despite the deep concerns of civil libertarians, most people have, in the past, been reasonably well-disposed to the idea of a national ID card scheme. But that has begun to change as the costs have come into focus, particularly the fact that everyone will be required to pay a £30 fee to obtain one.

Over the past five years the NoID pressure group has commissioned regular polls to gauge public support for the Government’s proposals. Normally a poll from a pressure group would need to be treated with scepticism. But NoID has asked the same unloaded question on each occasion. It has found that support for the cards has fallen from 55 per cent in June 2005 to 48 per cent in December 2009.

Interestingly, the plans to issue ID cards to pilots and other airport workers - the first British citizens to be forced to hold the cards - are meeting growing resistance.

Is the Government about to perform a U-turn?

There are rumours in Westminster that support in the Cabinet for ID cards is receding. And there were reports at the weekend that the new Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, has ordered a review of the policy.

But Mr Johnson also described ID cards this week as a “manifesto commitment”. And while there might be grumblings about the wisdom of ploughing on with the scheme in the Cabinet, it would be a considerable humiliation for the Government to scrap a policy that it has doggedly clung to for some four years.

So ID cards might not be officially binned, but do not be surprised if ministers decide to kick the scheme still further into the long grass before the next general election.

Will ID cards ever see the light of day?

Yes…

* The new Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, has reaffirmed the scheme as a “manifesto commitment”

* It would be expensive to break the contracts that have already been signed

* ID cards are already a reality and they will become increasingly accepted in the years ahead

No…

* The Tories have promised to scrap the scheme and they are likely to win the next general election

* ID cards are an expensive scheme that the country simply cannot afford with the public finances in their present state

* The public mood is shifting against the scheme

Ben Chu

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This entry was posted on Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 at 3:33 am and is filed under Surveillance, Civil Liberties & Human Rights News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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