§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he will ensure that(a) human rights and (b) civil liberties will not be violated under the proposed identity card scheme. [155340]
§ Beverley HughesA s set out in "Identity Cards: The Next Steps" (Cm 6020), data held on the National Identity Register will be basic identity information. Only Parliament would be able to change the statutory purposes of the scheme or the information that could be held by the scheme. Organisations using the National Identity Register to verify identity will not be able to get to other personal information, for instance health or tax records via the register.
Police and other organisations will not have routine access to data stored on the National Identity Register. Access would only be authorised in specific circumstances. Such access would be subject to legal and 373W procedural safeguards and independent oversight. There will be no new power for the police to stop someone and demand to see their card.
Research suggests that a majority of people in minority ethnic communities overwhelmingly support the idea of a national identity card scheme and do not feel that the proposals would be discriminatory; however, we will continue to work with organisations like the Commission for Racial Equality to ensure this in practice.
§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he will ensure that the central register used in the identity card scheme will be more(a) accurate and (b) transparent than existing databases. [155342]
§ Beverley HughesThe central register, the National Identity Register, will be built from scratch using information provided by individuals as they are issued with identity cards and will not rely on other sources of data that may have historical or other errors. However, before an entry is confirmed, it will be checked against other databases such as passports, driving licences and immigration records to establish a person's historical footprint. The register will also link each individual's record to biometric information that is unique to that person. This will help prevent multiple registrations and people's identities being stolen. The National Identity Register will therefore be a single, highly reliable record of a person's identity. By establishing in statute the National Identity Register, there will be transparency in the purposes of and in the data held by the scheme, which could only be changed by a decision of Parliament.