Clause 15 - Power to make public services conditional on identity checks
Identity Cards Bill
2:30 pm
Ben Wallace (Lancaster and Wyre, Conservative)
I certainly concede to the hon. Gentleman that, on the one hand, people are trying to prevent health tourists—I think that that is the phrase. On the other hand, we are talking about the services that he, I and our constituents have a right to access, whether or not they have an ID card, as British citizens resident in this country who contribute through the tax system. It is not easy to recognise from a person’s face the difference between such people. A lot of thought has to be given to that.
On the level of identification, my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth, East asked how and at what stage verification takes place. If someone who enters their local railway station is required to produce an ID card to access that public service, will a flash-and-go approach be used to test the biometrics, or will there be a little more? How clear will the photographs on the cards be? I had two Army identity cards—actually I had three, but I broke one, or put it through the washer—the first of which was replaced by the second. The photographs quickly became out of date. One has only to look in “Dod’s” or The Times “Guide to Westminster” to see that some MPs are fond of their school photograph, now that they are over 40. I am guilty of such a feeling, although I have not tried to use such a photo.
If we rely on flash-and-go for the provision of public services, what is the point of ID cards for general use among the population? They will constantly have to be updated. Either the private sector will have to start paying for they card—for example, Virgin Rail will have to pay for the readers—or the public sector will have to start using deeper technologies to interrogate the card and the system. That is when costs will rise.