Clause 15 - Power to make public services conditional on identity checks
Identity Cards Bill
4:30 pm
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Assistant Chief Whip, Whips; Cotswold, Conservative)
I wish to probe the Minister a little more on the point made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Skipton and Ripon (Mr. Curry). Will local authorities be given discretion on whether they require an identity card for the payment of housing benefit, for example? If that is to be the case, how would a citizen know whether their local authority required the production of the card and whether it was legitimately able to do so?
The same could apply to hospitals. Will some hospital trusts require the cards to be produced and others not, or will there be uniformity across the country? How much discretion will there be?