§ The Earl of Northeskasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Answer by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 4 March (HL Deb, col. 707) in which he identified that information from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, the Passport Service and other databases could be cross-checked to combat identity fraud, whether the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 apply to such checking, particularly the requirement that data shall only be used for the purpose for which they were collected, by the URU service (an online identity checking service); and, in the event that there are difficulties in this context, how they propose to resolve them. [HL2043]
§ Lord Falconer of ThorotonIn Answer to a separate Question by the noble Earl I have stated that the commercially provided URU service does not have access to information held on the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and UK Passport Service databases.
In my Answer of 4 March to which the noble Earl refers (HL Deb, col. 707), I did not say that information from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, the Passport Service and other databases could be cross-checked to combat identity fraud. However, greater use of this type of data sharing was recommended by the Cabinet Office study on identity fraud and the UK Passport Service and the DVLA are planning to share information with the consent of individuals, which would be fully in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. In addition to helping to counter identity fraud, this link will provide customer benefits as people applying for photocard driving licences will no longer need to send in their passports to DVLA to confirm their identity.