§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department has investigated, or is currently studying, the usefulness of a national identity card to his departmental responsibilities towards national security and the implications of such a scheme for his Department's use of the national insurance computer in Newcastle; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HurdI refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to a question from the hon. Member for Edinburgh, Central, (Mr. Darling), on 15 December 1988 at columns 1080-82.