HC Deb 06 May 2004 vol 420 cc1695-8W
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what penalty he proposes will apply to an individual who discloses information from the National Identity Register. [170325]

Mr. Browne

The criminal offences and civil penalties that will be used to ensure that an identity card scheme operates effectively are set out in "Legislation: A Consultation" (Cm 6178) published on 26 April.

Clause 29 of the draft Bill includes an offence for any person to disclose information from the National Identity Register without lawful authority, which will be punishable by a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment or a fine, or both.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what penalties will be applicable to hackers attempting to access the National Identity Register. [170326]

Mr. Browne

Clause 31 of the draft Identity Cards Bill published by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary on 26 April (Cm 6178) deals with cases where someone modifies information held on the Register to falsify it. This includes hacking into the Register. Such an act would be an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990, however it would attract only a maximum penalty of five years.

The draft Identity Cards Bill includes a provision to increase the maximum penalty in cases involving the National Identity Register to 10 years to ensure consistency with the false identity documents offences in the draft Bill.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who will have access to the information recorded on the National Identity Register; and under what circumstances. [170345]

Mr. Browne

Proposals to permit information held on the National Identity Register to be disclosed with and without an individual's consent are set out in "Legislation on Identity Cards: A Consultation" (Cm 6178) published on 26 April.

It is incorrect to say that any body or person will have "access" to the Register, rather the legislation will permit the Secretary of Sate to disclose information where a person consents or, where a person does not consent, only for specified purposes to specified persons.

Clause 14 provides for the provision of an identity verification service with the consent of the registered individual.

Clause 16 provides a power to enable checks to be made of information recorded in the Register by a person providing a public service for the purposes of ascertaining or verifying information of an individual applying for the public service. Clause 17 (1) sets out who may make regulations under Clause 16.

There will be a general power to disclose information to the security and intelligence agencies for their statutory purposes under clause 20.

In addition, law enforcement agencies will be able to see disclosure of information from the National Identity Register for the prevention or investigation of crime under clause 20 (3). For these groups, disclosure of "audit trails" of card usage would be permitted only in cases of serious crime under clause 20 (8). The police in Scotland will have similar powers but will only be permitted to apply for disclosure in relation to matters that arereserved under clause 20 (7)(b).

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what use will be made of data-sharing powers in background checks of applicants for identity cards. [170346]

Mr. Browne

"Identity Cards: The Next Steps" (Cm 6020) published in November 2003 made it clear that applications for one of the family of identity cards will require checks to be made against other databases, held by the public or private sector, in order to help establish that an application for a card is genuine. This followed recommendations on identity verification included in the Cabinet Office study on Identity Fraud, published in July 2002.

Clause 11 of the draft Bill includes a power to require organisations to provide information which will help to ensure that a person who applies to register is the person he or she claims to be. This power will only be used where there is no existing legal basis for this information to be obtained and will only apply for the purposes of processing applications for an identity card or for related purposes (for example, issuing a replacement). These powers do not confer any general right to share data for wider purposes.

Under clause 11 (6) Parliament would have to approve each "gateway" via an affirmative order.

Checks such as these could, for example, confirm that a person had been known by a certain identity and lived at known addresses for a number of years. This information is more difficult to know, to change, or to fabricate and will guard against registration of bogus identities and avoids relying solely on documents that can be stolen or forged, such as birth certificates.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information will be required to be provided by an applicant for an identity card. [170347]

Mr. Browne

When applying for an identity card, it will be necessary to make an application in person so that biometric information can be recorded. Applicants will also be asked to bring along existing identity documentation, which will be checked for authenticity and validity.

The precise arrangements for what information will be necessary for making an application will be decided as the identity cards programme progresses following further preparatory work and testing of different options. It may also be necessary t o make changes to the application process over time. These arrangements are therefore not spelt out on the face of the draft Identity Cards Bill. Rather provision is included for the detailed arrangements to be set out in Regulations. Clause 5(3) of the draft Bill makes clear that an application for registration and thus the issue of an ID card must be accompanied by information to be prescribed and Clause 5(4) enables further information to be required in order to verify the information the applicant has already provided. These arrangements must be approved by Parliament and no information may be required unless it is required for the statutory purposes of the scheme as set out in the primary legislation.

Keith Vaz

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what grounds it will be permitted for members of the public to be stopped and asked to produce their identity card; and what safeguards will be put in place to ensure that people are not asked to produce their identity cards for other reasons. [170647]

Mr. Browne

The introduction of identity cards will make it much easier and simpler for people to prove their identity when they wish to do so. However, the draft Identity Cards Bill has made clear that it will not be a requirement to carry an identity card and there are no new police powers to stop people and require them to produce a card.

The draft Bill does allow for Regulations to be made for identity checks, including production of a card, to access public services. Regulations for each service would need to be approved by Parliament. Before regulations are laid, the Government must explain why its existing powers in relation to a particular service are not sufficient (Clause 17(4)) and steps must be taken to ensure that members of the public are informed and consulted about the proposal. Clause 17(5) requires there to be consultation with interested parties if there is an equivalent requirement in other legislation to consult these interested parties.

Until it became compulsory to register, the ID card could not be the only way of proving identity to access social security benefits or free public services. In addition the intention of Clause 19 is to prohibit a private sector service provider making production of an ID card the only way of accessing its services before there is compulsion to register.

Keith Vaz

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the exceptional circumstances will be under which disclosure of information from the National Identity Register is allowed without an individual's consent. [170648]

Mr. Browne

Proposals to permit information held on the National Identity Register to be disclosed with and without an individual's consent are set out in "Legislation on Identity Cards: A Consultation" (Cm 6178) published on 26 April.

There will be an exception to the general bar on disclosing information without consent, but disclosure will only be allowed to specified persons for specified purposes approved by Parliament and will be subject to an internal authorisation and independent oversight procedure.

There will be a general power to disclose information to the security and intelligence agencies for their statutory purposes under clause 20.

In addition, law enforcement agencies will be able to seek disclosure of information from the National Identity Register for the prevention or investigation of crime under clause 20 (3). For these groups, disclosure of "audit trails" of card usage would be permitted only in cases of serious crime under clause 20 (8). The police in Scotland will have similar powers but will only be permitted to apply for disclosure in relation to matters that are reserved under clause 20 (7)(b).