Written evidence to be reported to the House
UK Borders Bill
11:18 am
Mr. Byrne: I shall ask James Hall to talk about the detail of this. I note we are talking about two biometrics rather than 10 or 11, if you include facial biometrics. I hope that we will have the chance to talk about the issue in principle in the future because I think the hon. Gentleman would agree that when we have a situation where foreign nationals are able to offer up to 50 or 60 different 20th-century, insecure paper-based documents there is a good case for phasing them all out and introducing a single, more secure biometric document and compulsory ID cards for foreign nationals so that it is much easier to verify whether somebody is who they say they are and whether they have the right to public benefits or the right to work. This will obviously be impossible to deliver if we cancel the contract for ID systems because, as we explained at Christmas, the systems for issuing biometric visas, which is important to help our e-Borders system run effectively, and compulsory ID cards for foreign nationals, will all sit on the national identity register. James, perhaps you could say something about the efficacy of biometrics and biometric matching?