Clause 1 - The National Identity Register
Identity Cards Bill
12:45 pm
Ben Wallace (Lancaster and Wyre, Conservative)
I want to expand on subsection (5)(h). Perhaps the Minister will provide some clarification on these matters, as he nodded his head during an intervention. Under subsection (5)(h), the information requested will be logged. This is an important subject. On going deep into the Bill, to use the words of the hon. Member for Colne Valley—I do not know quite what that means, other than reading it once again—I looked for where it mentions any inquiry made, or who inquires. I gather that an inquiry made by an authorised person would leave a footprint; the record would not just say, “An inquiry came in”; it would say whether the inquiry was made by, say, Morecambe Bay Hospitals NHS Trust, a cancer hospital or the National Blood Service. It would say who asked the question, and in asking where the question comes from, almost as much is given away as if the actual question were given. That is an important issue when it comes to tracking and making sure that we keep tabs on an individual.