HL Deb 03 June 2003 vol 648 cc128-9WA
Earl of Northesk

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Given that the Home Secretary has reportedly reached agreement with members of the G8 to develop an iris-based biometrics system as an extra check to the identities of international travellers, whether due account has been taken about the limitations of the technology as expressed by the United States Department of Defence, Marcus Kuhn of Cambridge University and others.[HL3000]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Filkin):

In line with emerging international standards for machine readable travel documents, the United Kingdom Passport Service (UKPS) is investigating the possible inclusion of fingerprints or iris scans as a back-up technology to facial recognition in the British passport and passport card. A tender for this work is currently being evaluated. The study will take into account all relevant information including that referred to by the noble Earl.