Identity Cards Bill

House of Lords

Session 2005 - 06
Internet Publications
Other Bills before Parliament

Identity Cards Bill

Identity Cards Bill
1

A
Bill
To
Make provision for a national scheme of registration of individuals and for the
issue of cards capable of being used for identifying registered individuals; to
make it an offence for a person to be in possession or control of an identity
document to which he is not entitled, or of apparatus, articles or materials for
making false identity documents; to amend the Consular Fees Act 1980; to
make provision facilitating the verification of information provided with an
application for a passport; and for connected purposes.
Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and
consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present
Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Registration
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The National Identity Register
(1)
It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to establish and maintain a register
of individuals (to be known as “the National Identity Register”).
(2)
The purposes for which the Register is to be established and maintained are
5
confined to the statutory purposes.
(3)
The statutory purposes are to facilitate, by the maintenance of a record of
registrable facts about individuals in the United Kingdom—
(a)
the provision of a convenient method for such individuals to prove
registrable facts about themselves to others; and
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(b)
the provision of a secure and reliable method for registrable facts about
such individuals to be ascertained or verified wherever that is
necessary in the public interest.
(4)
For the purposes of this Act something is necessary in the public interest if, and
only if, it is—
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(a)
in the interests of national security;
(b)
for the purposes of the prevention or detection of crime;
(c)
for the purposes of the enforcement of immigration controls;

HL Bill 28 54/1

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(d)
for the purposes of the enforcement of prohibitions on unauthorised
working or employment; or
(e)
for the purpose of securing the efficient and effective provision of
public services.
(5)
In this Act “registrable fact”, in relation to an individual, means—
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(a)
his identity;
(b)
where he resides in the United Kingdom;
(c)
where he has previously resided in the United Kingdom and
elsewhere;
(d)
the times at which he was resident at different places in the United
10
Kingdom or elsewhere;
(e)
his current residential status;
(f)
residential statuses previously held by him;
(g)
information about numbers allocated to him for identification purposes
and about the documents to which they relate;
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(h)
information about occasions on which information recorded about him
in the Register has been provided to any person; and
(i)
information recorded in the Register at his request.
(6)
But the registrable facts falling within subsection (5)(g) do not include any
sensitive personal data (within the meaning of the Data Protection Act 1998
20
(c. 29)) or anything the disclosure of which would tend to reveal such data.
(7)
In this section references to an individual’s identity are references to—
(a)
his full name;
(b)
other names by which he is or has previously been known;
(c)
his gender;
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(d)
his date and place of birth and, if he has died, the date of his death; and
(e)
physical characteristics of his that are capable of being used for
identifying him.
(8)
In this section “residential status”, in relation to an individual, means—
(a)
his nationality;
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(b)
his entitlement to remain in the United Kingdom; and
(c)
where that entitlement derives from a grant of leave to enter or remain
in the United Kingdom, the terms and conditions of that leave.
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Individuals entered in Register
(1)
An entry must be made in the Register for every individual who—
35
(a)
is entitled to be entered in it; and
(b)
applies to be entered in it.
(2)
The individuals entitled to be entered in the Register are—
(a)
every individual who has attained the age of 16 and, without being
excluded under subsection (3) from an entitlement to be registered, is
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residing at a place in the United Kingdom; and
(b)
every individual of a prescribed description who has resided in the
United Kingdom or who is proposing to enter the United Kingdom.

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(3)
Regulations made by the Secretary of State may provide that an individual
residing in the United Kingdom is excluded from an entitlement to be
registered if—
(a)
he is residing in the United Kingdom in exercise of an entitlement to
remain there that will end less than the prescribed period after it was
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acquired;
(b)
he is an individual of a prescribed description who has not yet been
resident in the United Kingdom for the prescribed period; or
(c)
he is residing in the United Kingdom despite having no entitlement to
remain there.
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(4)
An entry for an individual may be made in the Register (whether or not he has
applied to be, or is entitled to be, entered in it) if—
(a)
information capable of being recorded in an entry for him is otherwise
available to be recorded; and
(b)
the Secretary of State considers that the addition of the entry to the
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Register would be consistent with the statutory purposes.
(5)
An entry in the Register consisting of all the information recorded about an
individual must be given a unique number, to be known as his National
Identity Registration Number; and that number must comply with the
prescribed requirements.
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(6)
The Secretary of State may by order modify the age for the time being specified
in subsection (2)(a).
(7)
The Secretary of State must not make an order containing (with or without
other provision) any provision authorised by subsection (6) unless a draft of
the order has been laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each
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House.
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Information recorded in Register
(1)
The only information that may be recorded in the Register is—
(a)
information the inclusion of which in an individual’s entry is
authorised by Schedule 1;
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(b)
information of a technical nature for use in connection with the
administration of the Register;
(c)
information of a technical nature for use in connection with the
administration of arrangements made for purposes connected with the
issue or cancellation of ID cards; and
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(d)
information recorded in the Register in accordance with subsection (2).
(2)
Information about an individual must be recorded in his entry in the Register
(whether or not it is authorised by Schedule 1) if—
(a)
he has made an application to the Secretary of State requesting the
recording of the information as part of his entry;
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(b)
the information is of a description identified in regulations made by the
Secretary of State as a description of information that may be made the
subject of such a request; and
(c)
the Secretary of State considers that it is both practicable and
appropriate for it to be recorded in accordance with the applicant’s
45
request.
(3)
Where—

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(a)
the Secretary of State and an individual have agreed on what is to be
recorded about a matter in that individual’s entry in the Register, and
(b)
the Secretary of State has given, and not withdrawn, a direction that
what is to be recorded in that individual’s case about that matter is to
be determined by the agreement,
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there is to be a conclusive presumption for the purposes of this Act that the
information to which the direction relates is accurate and complete
information about that matter.
(4)
Information, once entered in the Register, may continue to be recorded in the
Register for so long as it is consistent with the statutory purposes for it to be so
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recorded.
(5)
The Secretary of State may by order modify the information for the time being
set out in Schedule 1.
(6)
The Secretary of State may make an order under this section adding
information to the information that may be recorded in the Register only if he
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considers that it would be consistent with the statutory purposes for the
additional information to be so recorded.
(7)
The Secretary of State must not make an order containing (with or without
other provision) any provision for adding information to the information that
may be recorded in the Register unless a draft of the order has been laid before
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Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House.
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Designation of documents for purposes of registration etc.
(1)
The Secretary of State may by order designate a description of documents for
the purposes of this Act.
(2)
The only documents that may be the subject of an order designating a
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description of documents for the purposes of this Act are—
(a)
documents that a person has a power or duty to issue by virtue of
provision made by or under an enactment; or
(b)
documents which a Minister of the Crown or Northern Ireland
department is authorised or required to issue otherwise than by virtue
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of provision so made.
(3)
The Secretary of State must not make an order containing (with or without
other provision) any provision designating a description of documents for the
purposes of this Act unless a draft of the order has been laid before Parliament
and approved by a resolution of each House.
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5
Applications relating to entries in Register
(1)
An application by an individual to be entered in the Register may be made
either—
(a)
by being included in the prescribed manner in an application for a
designated document; or
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(b)
by being submitted in the prescribed manner directly to the Secretary
of State.
(2)
Where an application to be issued with a designated document is made by an
individual, the application must do one of the following—
(a)
include an application by that individual to be entered in the Register;
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(b)
state that the individual is already entered in the Register and confirm
the contents of his entry;
(c)
state that the individual is entered in the Register and confirm the
contents of his entry subject to the changes notified in the application.
(3)
Where an individual makes—
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(a)
an application to be entered in the Register, or
(b)
an application which for the purposes of this Act confirms (with or
without changes) the contents of his entry in the Register,

the application must be accompanied by the prescribed information.
(4)
Where an individual has made an application falling within subsection (3)(a)
10
or (b), the Secretary of State may require him to do such one or more of the
things specified in subsection (5) as the Secretary of State thinks fit for the
purpose of—
(a)
verifying information that may be entered in the Register about that
individual in consequence of that application; or
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(b)
otherwise ensuring that there is a complete, up-to-date and accurate
entry about that individual in the Register.
(5)
The things that an individual may be required to do under subsection (4) are—
(a)
to attend at a specified place and time;
(b)
to allow his fingerprints, and other biometric information about
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himself, to be taken and recorded;
(c)
to allow himself to be photographed;
(d)
otherwise to provide such information as may be required by the
Secretary of State.
(6)
Regulations under this section must not require an individual to provide
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information to another person unless it is information required by the
Secretary of State for the statutory purposes.
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Power of Secretary of State to require registration
(1)
The Secretary of State may by order impose an obligation on individuals of a
description specified in the order to be entered in the Register.
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(2)
An order under this section may impose an obligation on individuals required
to be entered in the Register to apply in accordance with section 5 to be so
entered.
(3)
An order which imposes an obligation to make such an application must set
out—
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(a)
the time when the requirement to make the application arises; and
(b)
the period after that time within which the application must be made.
(4)
An individual who—
(a)
contravenes an obligation imposed on him by provision made under
subsections (2) and (3), or
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(b)
contravenes a requirement imposed on him under section 5(4) in
connection with an application made in pursuance of such an
obligation,

shall be liable to a civil penalty not exceeding £2,500.

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(5)
An individual required to be entered in the Register by virtue of this section
who contravenes a requirement imposed under section 5(4) otherwise than in
connection with such an application shall be liable to a civil penalty not
exceeding £1,000.
(6)
An individual who has contravened an obligation imposed on him by
5
provision made under subsections (2) and (3) and on whom a penalty has been
imposed under subsection (4) in respect of that contravention shall be liable to
a further civil penalty not exceeding £2,500 in respect of each subsequent
occasion on which—
(a)
a notice is given to him by the Secretary of State requiring him to make
10
an application to be entered in the Register; and
(b)
he fails to do so within the period specified in the notice.
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Procedure for orders under s. 6
(1)
The Secretary of State must not make an order containing (with or without
other provision) any provision for compulsory registration unless—
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(a)
a draft of the order has been laid before Parliament and approved by a
resolution of each House; and
(b)
each of the resolutions for approving the draft was agreed more than 60
days after the day on which the draft was laid before the House in
question.
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(2)
No draft order containing provision for compulsory registration is to be laid
before Parliament unless—
(a)
the Secretary of State has prepared and published a report containing a
proposal for the making of such provision;
(b)
the report sets out the Secretary of State’s reasons for making the
25
proposal;
(c)
the report has been laid before Parliament and each House has
approved the proposal contained in the report, either with or without
modifications; and
(d)
the draft order gives effect to the proposal so far as approved by both
30
Houses.
(3)
An approval given in either House satisfies the requirements of subsection
(2)(c) only if it was given in that House on the first occasion on which a motion
for the approval of the proposal was made in that House by a Minister of the
Crown after—
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(a)
the laying of the report; or
(b)
if more than one report containing that proposal has been laid before
that House, the laying of the one laid most recently.
(4)
The Secretary of State must not make an order which—
(a)
contains (with or without other provision) any provision that he is
40
authorised to make by section 6, but
(b)
is not an order containing provision for compulsory registration,

unless a draft of the order has been laid before Parliament and approved by a
resolution of each House.
(5)
In reckoning a period of 60 days for the purposes of subsection (1), no account
45
shall be taken of a day for which—
(a)
Parliament is dissolved or prorogued; or

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(b)
the House in question is adjourned as part of an adjournment of more
than four days.
(6)
References in this section to provision for compulsory registration are
references to any provision that the Secretary of State is authorised to make by
section 6 the effect of which is to impose an obligation on individuals to be
5
entered in the Register from a time when they would not otherwise be subject
to such an obligation.
ID cards
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Issue etc. of ID cards
(1)
For the purposes of this Act an ID card is a card which—
10
(a)
is issued to an individual by the Secretary of State, or as part of or
together with a designated document; and
(b)
does, as respects that individual, both of the things specified in
subsection (2).
(2)
Those things are—
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(a)
recording registrable facts about the individual that are already
recorded as part of his entry in the Register;
(b)
carrying data enabling the card to be used for facilitating the making of
applications for information recorded in a prescribed part of the
individual’s entry in the Register, or for otherwise facilitating the
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provision of that information to a person entitled to be provided with it.
(3)
An ID card issued to an individual—
(a)
must record only the prescribed information;
(b)
must record prescribed parts of it in an encrypted form;
(c)
is valid only for the prescribed period; and
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(d)
remains the property of the person issuing it.
(4)
Except in prescribed cases, an ID card must be issued to an individual if he—
(a)
is entitled to be entered in the Register or is subject to compulsory
registration; and
(b)
is an individual about whom the prescribed registrable facts are
30
recorded in the Register.
(5)
In prescribed cases an ID card may be issued to an individual who—
(a)
is not required to be issued with one; but
(b)
is an individual about whom the prescribed registrable facts are
recorded in the Register.
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(6)
An ID card relating to an individual is not to be issued except on an application
made by him which either—
(a)
accompanies an application made by him to be entered in the Register;
or
(b)
in the prescribed manner confirms (with or without changes) the
40
contents of an entry already made in the Register for that individual.
(7)
An individual who is not already the holder of an ID card must, in the
prescribed manner, include an application to be issued with such a card—