Clause 39 - Verifying information provided
Identity Cards Bill
5:45 pm
Mr Des Browne (Minister of State (Citizenship, Immigration and Counter-Terrorism), Home Office; Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman is right in that the clause mirrors for passport applications the identity checking provisions for national identity register enrolment under clause 11. The provisions for passport applications will be brought into effect by clause 45(5) two months after Royal Assent by the same method as the previous clause that we considered. The genesis of the amendment lies in the Cabinet Office study on identity fraud that reported about 30 months ago. It recommended greater use of biographical checks on passport applications. Indeed, that recommendation has led to that method of checking being incorporated into the identity card scheme, rather than the ID system being devised for passports.
Concerns were expressed about passports and it was recommended that greater use of biographical checks be carried out. The UK Passport Service developed and introduced a large-scale pilot scheme for checking information provided by passport applications against public and private sector databases. The pilot has been running for a year in the Glasgow passport office and the next step will be to roll it out nationally for all adult first-time passport applications. It will then be used in conjunction with the interviews that I announced on 20 December to introduce the highest possible standard of identity authentication for adult first-time passport applications.
The powers exercised by the Home Secretary under which the Crown issues passports already enable the collection of information from passport applicants to check their identity. The clause will put beyond doubt the ability of the UK Passport Service to approach other Government organisations to require them to check against their records and confirm to the UKPS whether or not the details in a given passport application match a genuine identity.