Clause 1 - The National Identity Register
Identity Cards Bill
12:45 pm
Kali Mountford (Colne Valley, Labour)
I hope that I can reassure the hon. Gentleman that he need have no such fear. He seems to be mixing up several elements of the Bill. Later in our discussions of the Bill, he will see that such a record cannot be made available.
Let us say that somebody presents themselves to a hospital for treatment and has that treatment free at the point of use, as we would all wish them to do. If that person is not entitled to their treatment free at the point of use, as most citizens of this country are, but is liable to payment, it will be reasonable to ask them to demonstrate that they can pay or whether they are eligible for free treatment. It is reasonable to ask such people to pay in those circumstances, and it is also acceptable to check such things.
The hon. Gentleman seems to be going further, and suggesting that we would somehow be able to check by other means, involving other people going into the record, what somebody checked, where they checked it, who checked it and what the purpose was. If he reads on into the Bill, he will see that that information could not be made available. We are talking about a verification process, and an ability to say, “This person is who they said they were when they presented on that day”. It tells us that they were who they said they were. That is all it does. It does none of the other things, even though my constituents want blood groups and previous problems to be included, so that if they are knocked over in the street, the ambulance services can give them immediate treatment. That is going too far, but the hon. Gentleman seems to have a different view of the provisions.