Blunkett presses on with compulsory ID card plans

The government will now issue standalone compulsory biometric ID cards as part of changes to the draft ID card bill issued by Home Secretary David Blunkett today – despite growing public opposition to the scheme.

The cards will be issued with passports but will not be incorporated into either the existing passport or driving licence as previously proposed, with a standardised online verification service used to check card details against those held on the National Identity Register (NIR).

The changes are part of the Home Office's response to a Parliamentary Home Affairs select committee report by MPs in July, which broadly backed the ID card scheme despite some major reservations and criticisms.

"I will now bring forward legislation to bring in a compulsory, national ID card scheme," said Blunkett in a statement.

A new executive agency incorporating the UK Passport Service and working with the Home Office's Immigration and Nationality Directorate will now be set up to deliver and run the ID card scheme.

But a summary of findings from the Home Office's consultation exercise also published today highlights the fact there are still serious concerns about the ID card scheme from bodies ranging from privacy groups to the Confederation of British Industry over the scope, security and management of the project.

The Law Society, for example, raises the question of whether it will prove too costly to pursue individuals who incur a £2,500 fine for refusing to register for the ID cards.

Initial government research into the public's views on ID cards found 79 per cent in favour or very much in favour of them, with only 13 per cent against and eight per cent unsure. More recent research, however, included in the consultation summary shows support has dropped significantly with only 31 per cent now in favour, 48 per cent opposed and only eight per cent supportive in principle even with reservations about the Bill.

Responding to MPs' concerns about the government's track record on large IT projects, the Home Office said the ID card scheme will be introduced in an incremental manner both in enrolment of the population and roll-out of the technology. But it hit back at MPs concerns over the security of data held in the NIR, which will underpin the ID card scheme, and which organisations will have access to it.

"The Government would not agree with the use of the word 'sensitive' to describe most of the data to be collected and stored," the Home Office response said. "Most of the data which will be held by the scheme is already public and is used routinely in everyday transactions, like opening a bank account or joining a library."

The response also avoided answering MPs' questions about who would have access to the data in the NIR, and said only that online ID checks would only be used for high-risk and high-value cases and for everything else a visual check using the photo on the card would be the norm.

The ID card consultation summary can be found here and the Home Office's response to the select committee report can be found here.