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11 Mar 2009 : Column 143WH—continued
The card will display only minimal information but, using the fingerprint and digital images, link one person to one identity, which is the key point. Making life easy and more convenient is one area, but, for public sector organisations and private businesses, it will improve efficiency, too, because procedures will be quicker and easier. As one council chief executive told me, they will be able to spend more time on the people who are difficult to deal with, because they will be able to process many people whose identities will be easy to
check if they choose to produce a card. Of course, under the 2006 Act, they will not be required to show the card. No one will be required to show the card to access a public service, but they can choose to do so if they wish to be dealt with quickly.
The message about ID fraud is important. It is a growing concern, about which I get more letters now than I did when I started this job. People are aware of ID fraud issues, and we will soon launch work to remind people to maintain their identity securely, pointing out the various measures that the Government, across the board, can undertake to help people do so. We already have a very trusted Identity and Passport Service—71 per cent. of the population trust it to hold their information. Information from our passports is held on a database, but we will provide a far more secure database and far more secure updated information, making the card a much more useful product. In many ways, the identity card programme involves an update similar to what we have done with passports—automating the process, rather than having an old-fashioned paper-based system.
My hon. Friend is right that one could counter-argue and say that several documents are more secure than one, but that is why we must get the first identity check right. The IPS is very good at doing that. We recently introduced interviews for first-time adult passport applicants, and there have been some successes, with people often faltering when asked, either prior to or after an interview, for further information to verify that they are genuinely who they say they are. We have a trusted Government organisation already doing that work, and the same organisation will run the identity card scheme.
My hon. Friend is right that trust is a key factor. It certainly bears on my mind as the Minister responsible for the work, and we need to ensure that we build and maintain public trust and show that we have clear and transparent approaches to tackling any breach of trust. The scheme’s commissioner will soon be appointed—we hope by the summer. His or her role is clearly laid out, and I shall happily send details of it to my hon. Friend, if he wishes. The scheme commissioner will work alongside the Information Commissioner’s office, with which we have had several discussions to ensure that the scheme works properly. Several legal protections are in place—for example, regarding the handful of staff who will have direct access to the register. They will amount to about 100 people. My hon. Friend rightly raised the issue of human error, but, if somebody tampers with the register, they will face a severe legal penalty, including a prison sentence.
No personal information will be downloaded to USBs or discs. In fact, generally, there will be no terminals on people’s desks, as that would allow them to look up an individual with the card present. That puts the power in the hands of the citizen. If I present myself, my card and my PIN, I am clear that I have given permission for some information about me on the register to be verified by the person, bank—whomever I have a relationship with. No one else should be able to look up information, except in extreme circumstances, such as suspected terrorism or serious crime—and only then, when clear proof is given to the custodians of the database that the information, or a certain amount of information, is required. There will be no opportunity—not even for the police—to fish
around the register to see what information can be found. It will be as secure as a military database. Nothing is ever risk free, however, and it would be irresponsible of us to suggest that. Nevertheless, it is important that I highlight those points.
Foreign nationals have been very receptive to the scheme. I stress that they were not chosen as an easy, soft-touch first group; other work was going on in the Home Office, so we decided about a year ago to align both projects. Rather than leave out the immigration scheme, there seemed to be much more sense in aligning the two as part of the same scheme. It was clearly part of the same approach.
Airline pilots have sought portability for their security passes, and we have had some constructive conversations with a number of air industry organisations—perhaps more constructive than with those few that have chosen to criticise the scheme publicly. I am always happy to consult people and to discuss their concerns. It is much more helpful if they talk to us directly, rather than just going to the newspapers. The business benefits to airlines
will be enormous. The scheme speeds up checks, and that benefits employers and employees, because they will be able to start work sooner and their salaries will not be late.
I have little time to go into what is a big area, but the suppliers went through a rigorous procurement process and, if they fell by the wayside, it was because they did not meet requirements. Hand on heart, I can say that one of the best procurement teams in the Government is dealing with the scheme. We went through a very effective procurement strategy. We set up a competition, and five companies ended up on our team of contractors which will bid for smaller contracts. That strategic suppliers’ group went through such rigorous testing that we now know the standards that we expect from it, and it does, too. There is much more collaboration in the team now, and its members are competing heatedly for various contracts that are now being sub-let.
5.30 pm
Sitting adjourned without Question put (Standing Order No. 10(11)).
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