Clause 20 - Further uses connected with the
Identity Cards Bill
10:00 am
Mr Des Browne (Minister of State (Citizenship, Immigration and Counter-Terrorism), Home Office; Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Labour)
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman.
The hon. Member for Sheffield, Hallam asked about the interaction of clauses 19 and 20. In so far as I understood him, and I think that I did understand him clearly, his interpretation of the two clauses was correct. Subsection (4) would allow
''The provision of information falling within the provisions under paragraph 9 of Schedule 1'',
which is about the records of information provided from the register. It would allow the provision of such information to the police, the Inland Revenue, Customs and Excise and Departments. Provision of such information could also be authorised for criminal investigations or proceedings, but only if it were for purposes connected with the prevention and detection of serious crime. That will allow a higher threshold to apply when the information provided relates to an individual's use of an ID card, rather than to what might be called static information, such as names, addresses and other information clearly about identity.
That information may be provided to certain persons under other clauses, of course, and it is right to give the example of the security services, which are mentioned in clause 19(2). That clause is needed to ensure that the Bill is clear about the circumstances in which, and for what purposes, information can be provided without consent. A consistent thread runs through the Bill. Other than those agencies with particular responsibilities in relation to national security, which have their own statutory framework as a justification for having access to such information, access for the investigation of criminal or related matters is restricted to the prevention and detection of serious crime, which is defined in clause 43.
I hope that that deals with all the matters that hon. Members have raised. I think that it does, with the exception of that raised by the hon. Member for Newark (Patrick Mercer), who asked me to speculate on the interrelation between these provisions and a piece of legislation that was described in the broadest of terms by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary yesterday. I regret that until the detail of that legislation is drafted, I will not be able to do for the Committee what the hon. Gentleman has suggested and I cannot assist the Committee any further on that point.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 20 ordered to stand part of the Bill.