§ Lord Mason of Barnsleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What opinion polls they have commissioned or seen on the questions of introducing identity card schemes on a voluntary or mandatory basis; and what percentages of responses were registered for and against either schemes. [HL3398]
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Williams of Mostyn)The Government have not commissioned any opinion polls on identity cards. Sixty-five per cent. of the respondents to the previous government's 1995 Green Paper,Identity Cards: A consultation document, who 5WA expressed a view were in favour of some kind of identity card but there was no consensus about the purpose such a scheme would serve.
§ Lord Mason of Barnsleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the conclusion of the last examination by the House of Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs of the introduction of a voluntary identity card scheme; and what was their response. [HL3400]
§ Lord Williams of MostynThe House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee last considered the case for a national identity card in 1996. The committee supported the proposal of the then government to introduce a voluntary identity card linked to the proposed photocard driving licence. This Government have reached no conclusions about the principle of a national identity card but are keeping the options for an identity card scheme under review.
§ Lord Mason of Barnsleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they believe that a voluntary identification card scheme on a "must-show" basis would help in the curbing of social security fraud, drug dealing, criminal activity and terrorist activity. [HL3401]
§ Lord Williams of MostynThe Government are keeping under review the options for a national identity card scheme but have so far reached no firm conclusions about their potential effectiveness in combating various types of crime.
§ Lord Mason of Barnsleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many letters they have received on the question of introducing an identity card scheme; how many were in favour and how many against. [HL3402]
6WA
Number of persons aged between 10 and 17 convicted in England and Wales or with charge proved in Scotland for murder or manslaughter, 1979 to 1998
Country/offence 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 England and Wales Persons aged 10–13 Murder — — — 1 n/a — — 1 — 1 Manslaughter2 1 — — — n/a — — — — — Persons aged 10–16 Murder 6 5 5 15 n/a 5 6 6 4 3 Manslaughter2 7 7 10 8 n/a 6 8 8 12 6 Persons aged 10–17 Murder 20 16 11 22 n/a 13 12 8 14 7 Manslaughter2 20 12 18 10 n/a 14 13 16 19 14 Scotland Persons aged 10–13 Murder — — — — — — — — — — Culpable homicide3 — — — 1 — — 1 — — — Persons aged 10–16 Murder 5 5 — 4 2 — 2 3 2 2 Culpable homicide3 3 1 7 2 2 1 6 1 7 5 Persons aged 10–17 Murder 6 5 4 6 5 2 4 5 4 3 Culpable homicide3 3 3 9 3 3 1 8 3 9 7
§ Lord Williams of MostynSince May 1997 we have received 278 letters, including 87 from Members of Parliament, on the subject of identity cards. A total of 269 were in favour of some form of identity card scheme and nine were against.
§ Lord Mason of Barnsleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether a voluntary or mandatory identity card scheme would help control the illegal immigrant problem and ease the congestion and backlog of passport enquiries. [HL3403]
§ Lord Williams of MostynWe have reached no firm conclusions about the extent to which an identity card scheme might help deal with illegal immigration, although it is worth making clear that there is no intention of reducing our reliance on frontier based immigration controls. Any decision to introduce identity cards would be for the longer term and so would not bear on the current temporary back-log of passport applications.