Gateway reviews of Home Office ID cards programme

OGC received the following request for the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000:

The two pre-stage zero and the actual stage zero Gateway reviews of the Identity Cards Programme project being run by Home Office.

OGC took this to mean a request for information contained in two Gateway 0 Reviews (June 2003 and January 2004) and an earlier review conducted by the Home Office (March 2003).

OGC decided to disclose some of the background information contained within the two Gateway 0 Reviews (June 2003 and January 2004).The remaining information was exempt from disclosure under the Act.

Disclosed information

A: Gateway Review 0 June 2003

From July 2002 to January 2003 the Home Office carried out a widespread consultation on whether it should introduce entitlement cards, which some people call identity cards.A universal entitlement card scheme would:

(i) provide people who are lawfully resident in the UK with a means of confirming their identity to a high degree of assurance;

(ii)establish for official purposes a person's identity so that there is one definitive record of an identity which all Government departments can use if they wish;

(iii)help people gain entitlement to products and services provided by both the public and private sectors, particularly those who might find it difficult to so do at present;

(iv) help public and private sector organisations to validate a person's identity, entitlement to products and services and eligibility to work in the UK.

By giving a clear indication that the holder of an entitlement card is lawfully resident in the UK, a card scheme could be a powerful weapon in combating illegal immigration.However, the potential benefits of an entitlement card scheme go much wider than an immigration control measure.It could provide a more efficient basis for administering public services by avoiding the need for people to provide the same personal information time and again to a range of public services.There would also be savings for service providers as there would be a single definitive source of information about people's identity and possibly a unique personal number for everyone registered on the system.

A card scheme could also help prevent people becoming victims of identity theft and identity fraud.Identity fraud is estimated to cost the economy at least £1.3 billion every year and the level is rising.A card could also allow people to travel around Europe without the need to carry a passport book and might be useful to young people to help prove their age when purchasing age-restricted goods and services.

The consultation paper set out a suggested scheme in which the photocard driving licence and the recently announced passport card would both be equally acceptable forms of entitlement card.It explained that it would not be possible to combine the exact format of both cards into one because of the specific requirements of the respective EU and international standards with which each card must comply.However, as the format of the UK passport card is yet to be decided, it will be designed to accord as closely as possible with the format and layout of a photocard driving licence.Both would therefore fulfil the functions of an entitlement card.As not everyone in the country qualifies for a driving licence or a passport these people will be offered a card at a lower cost than a passport or a driving licence which would look like a photocard driving licence minus the information on what vehicles the holder is entitled to drive.

In order to ensure that a card scheme would provide a greater level of protection against identity fraud, it proposed that the checks currently undertaken for driving licence and passport applications should be strengthened. Another option, which the Government would like to explore, is the recording of biometric information as part of a card scheme.This could take the form of recording a fingerprint scan or the image of a person's iris (the coloured ring around the eye) as well as a digital photograph, which is already taken for passports and driving licences.

No Gateway reviews have been carried out on the scheme before, but an assessment of its status had just been carried out on behalf of the Department by independent consultants. The report from this assessment was made available and it has been taken into account by the Gateway review team.

 

B: Gateway Review 0 (January 2004)

The combination of greater mobility and advancing technology is making it increasingly difficult to protect and authenticate people's identity.As a result British citizens are facing growing threats to their security and prosperity from illegal migration and working, organised crime and terrorism, identity theft and fraud and fraudulent access to public services. Identity fraud has been estimated to cost at least £1.3 billion every year. Biometric passports are already being developed in the UK, elsewhere in Europe and the US partly in response to this situation. The US has announced that a biometric will shortly be required for foreign nationals entering the US.

Following widespread consultation the Government has decided to build a base for a compulsory Identity Card scheme proceeding by incremental steps as a key part of a comprehensive strategy to contain these threats and to ensure more reliable means of authenticating people's identity.The proposals are being designed to protect people's true identity against fraud and to enable them to prove their identity more easily without unnecessary intrusion by the State.

The first stage of the scheme will pave the way for the establishment of more reliable means of proving identity by:

Establishing a National Identity Register;

Proceeding towards more secure passports and driving licences based on biometric technology with personalised, specific identifiers;

For those who do not need a passport or driving licence and choose to take it up, making available a voluntary identity card;

Introducing mandatory biometric documents for foreign nationals coming to stay in the UK for longer than 3 months.

The costs of these steps and all start up costs are to be met from charging or existing departmental budgets.The introduction of the plain identity cards are planned to start in 2007/8 and together with the incremental roll out of biometric passports and possibly driving licences 80% coverage of the economically active population is expected within 5 years.Preparation activities include a 6 month biometric pilot by the Passport Service to test face, iris and fingerprint biometric information.

If the conditions are right the first stage of the scheme could then be followed by a move to a compulsory card scheme.This step will require full debate and a vote in both Houses of Parliament and will only be taken after a rigorous evaluation of the first stage and when there is high confidence that everything is in place to enable the scheme to work.

The Government's White Paper (Identity Cards - The Next Steps - Cm 6020) has indicated that once an OGC Review has confirmed that the programme is ready to proceed draft legislation will be published to enable the scheme to be introduced.