Proposals for a national compulsory identity cards scheme, to strengthen national security and protect people’s identity, were set out by the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, in late November as the Government published its Identity Cards Bill.
The scheme, the Home Office claims, will provide a simple and secure ‘gold standard’ for proving identity, protecting people from identity fraud and theft and providing them with a convenient means of verifying their identity in everyday transactions. Critics fear ‘mission creep’ and a rising cost of the card; and doubt whether the ID card can really deliver what the Government says it can. That is: disrupt the use of false and multiple identities which are used by organised criminals and in a third of terrorist-related activity; tackle illegal working and immigration abuse; ensure free public services are used only by those who are properly entitled to them; and ensure British citizens are able to travel freely as international requirements for secure biometric identity documents develop.
The identity cards scheme will include biometrics – unique personal identifiers such as facial image, fingerprints or iris images. Biometric identifiers combined with a secure database will enable people’s identity to be accurately verified and will prevent fraud and attempts to register multiple identities. The scheme will cover all those resident in the UK, including all foreign nationals here for more than three months. Newly arrived foreign nationals will have to register from 2008. British citizens will initially enrol on the scheme as they renew their passports. Ultimately, when Parliament decides, it will become compulsory to register – though it will not be compulsory to carry the card.
What they say
Mr Blunkett, a supporter of ID cards against some reported Cabinet resistance, said: “The national identity cards scheme will give people confidence, convenience and security in an increasingly vital aspect of modern life – proving and protecting their identity. It will help tackle the activities of organised criminals and terrorists who depend on the use of multiple identities – identity cards will be a key part of the Government’s wide-ranging programme for tackling organised crime, at the centre of which will be the new Serious Organised Crime Agency. Identity cards will also help in the fight against illegal working and immigration and ensure public services are only used by those entitled to them. Safeguards to ensure protection of privacy are a critical part of the identity cards scheme. But our liberties will be strengthened, not weakened, by a universal scheme which ensures that all citizens’ identities are protected from abuse. Publication of the Bill marks a further step in the careful process of consultation and refinement which we began almost three years ago. This is an ambitious, long-term project and we are taking the time and care, drawing on outside expertise, to ensure we get it right. Across the world, the international community is demanding more secure identity in travel documents – including the USA, where visitors will need a biometric passport or visa by October 2005. In a fast-changing world, a national identity cards scheme based on secure biometrics will ensure the UKremains at the forefront of these developments and our citizens retain the freedom to travel easily.”
The Bill would cover the whole of the UK. Its provisions include: the statutory purposes of the scheme; establishing the National Identity Register; providing powers to issue identity cards; ensuring checks can be made against other databases to confirm an applicant’s identity and guard against fraud; setting out what information will be held and what safeguards will be put in place; enabling public and private sector organisations to verify a person’s identity by having it checked against the National Identity Register; making clear the limitations on the information which is held on the National Identity Register and which can be checked via the verification service; creating new criminal offences on the possession of false identity documents, including genuine documents that have been improperly obtained or relate to someone else; creating a specific offence on tampering with the National Identity Register; including enabling powers so that in the future access to specified public services could be linked to the production of a valid identity card; and providing a power at a future date for it to become compulsory to register and be issued with a card, including penalties against failure to register.
New agency
A new executive agency will issue identity cards, starting in 2008. It will incorporate the functions of the United Kingdom Passport Service and work with the Home Office’s Immigrationand Nationality Directorate, the Government says. The Bill will create a National Identity Scheme Commissioner to have oversight of the whole scheme, including provision of information from the National Identity Register.
Register fears
The Office of the Information Commissioner, which deals with data protection, spoke of concerns that what is being proposed is not simply an ID card but also an extensive national identity register and a national identity registration number. The office said: “Each of these raise substantial data protection concerns in their own right and we think that although the Government has tried to gauge public opinion to the acceptability of their proposals this has been limited to ID cards themselves so more public debate on these other aspects is needed. Although the Government intends to adopt a ‘voluntary’ scheme before deciding whether to make it compulsory, in reality most of us we will have no choice whether to have a ID card, be allocated an identity number and go on the register as all passports and driving licences will only be available as dual purpose ID cards. We are worried about the information that the national identity register will contain as this seems excessive to that needed to establishing identity and registering someone. The register will also keep a record of whenever it was checked by some one providing a service to individuals. This will mean that an extensive picture of how we live our lives and our movements can be built up and it is intended to make this available to a range of organisations without consent. A real worry is that the draft Bill aims to remove an individual’s right of access, under the Data Protection Act 1998, to this information so individuals will not be able to tell who has been accessing, and possibly misusing, their personal information. We have called on Government to remove this provision.” Visit www.identitycards.gov.uk and
