Clause 2 - Individuals entered in Register
Identity Cards Bill
2:15 pm
Edward Garnier (Shadow Minister, (Assisted By Shadow Law Officers); Harborough, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 16, in clause 2, page 3, line 10, at end insert—
‘(4A)Details of any entry made in the Register must be provided to the person in respect of whom the entry is made.’.
There was a brief discussion on this subject on the last occasion that the legislation was discussed in Committee. The Minister’s predecessor, the Chief Secretary, addressed questions asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Woking (Mr. Malins), who moved a similar amendment to the one currently under discussion. I did not find the Chief Secretary’s response on that occasion terribly illuminating, and I wonder whether the Minister will have a better go.
In dealing with the argument advanced by my hon. Friend the Member for Woking, the Chief Secretary said:
“Such a provision”—
a measure on the provision of entries to the person in respect of whom the entry is made—
“is unnecessary because the Data Protection Act already holds general rules on notification rights. They have been very carefully considered and drafted in view of the underlying EU directive and they will apply to the ID cards scheme.”
He went on to say:
“So the rules are already in place”.—[Official Report, Standing Committee B, 18 January 2005; c. 94]
We therefore have absolutely nothing to worry about.
No doubt the Minister thinks that that is all fine and dandy, but in respect of this new Bill in this new Parliament, we feel that we need far greater clarification from the Minister about the rights, or the absence of rights, among people who are the subject of information on the Government computer. Without such clarification, and without assurances that information about an individual will not be stored, added to or removed without his knowledge, the citizen will be in a position of insecurity.
This is not a complex point. It is straightforward: those who are the subject of Government-controlled information should have some knowledge of the fact that they are the subject of Government attention. I would like the Minister to explain briefly why proposed new subsection (4A) should not be added to the Bill.