§ Mr. Nicholas BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has as to the cost of establishing and maintaining a national identity card system for every British citizen aged 12 years or over.
§ Mr. John PattenThe cost would depend on the administrative details of the system and the checks required before an identity card was issued. If a similar system was operated to that used for issuing passports the unit costs could be about £7.50. The costs (excluding initial capital costs) of issuing identity cards to all British citizens aged 12 or over would then be around £350 million. The annual running cost would depend upon the number of new card holders applying each year, the frequency with which cards had to be renewed, and whether card holders had to notify changes of address. It would probably be between £50 million and £100 million.