Results 1-14 of 14 for id cards speaker:Alan Johnson

Written Answers — Home Department: Identity Cards (20 Jul 2009)

Alan Johnson: The National Identity Register, which will hold the identity information of everyone issued with a national identity card, will not begin operation until later this year when we start to issue voluntary ID cards to airside workers at Manchester and London city airports as well as to British citizens living in the Greater Manchester area. There have, therefore not yet been any checks made on...

Opposition Day — [15th Allotted Day]: Identity Cards (6 Jul 2009)

Alan Johnson: I beg to move an amendment, to leave out from "House" to the end of the Question and add: "acknowledges the continued and growing problem of identity fraud in the UK; accepts that a universally accepted biometric passport or identity card linked to a national identity register will help secure the identity of an individual and reduce the incidence of multiple identity fraud; further...

Opposition Day — [15th Allotted Day]: Identity Cards (6 Jul 2009)

Alan Johnson: The hon. Gentleman is struggling a bit. The Prime Minister was absolutely right in everything that he said, as I was right in what I just said. Our 2005 manifesto—that is what I said—did not contain any reference to compulsion, or to ID cards as a weapon in the fight against terrorism.

Opposition Day — [15th Allotted Day]: Identity Cards (6 Jul 2009)

Alan Johnson: Let me say it one more time: the platform on which we stood at the 2005 election—the manifesto that said that we would introduce ID cards—made no mention of compulsion and no mention of terrorism.

Opposition Day — [15th Allotted Day]: Identity Cards (6 Jul 2009)

Alan Johnson: I will come on to that in a second, but the right hon. Gentleman cannot suggest that identity cards would not make a contribution to tackling identity fraud, benefit fraud, money laundering, people-trafficking, or a whole range of other problems. Incidentally, they would make a contribution towards tackling terrorism; as I have said, identity cards are a tool, not the toolbox. The hon. Member...

Opposition Day — [15th Allotted Day]: Identity Cards (6 Jul 2009)

Alan Johnson: I do not know the answer to that question, but I will let the hon. Gentleman know. The point is that we have always put forward a voluntary scheme. We said in the manifesto that it would be voluntary. It was in the Bill that we took through Parliament that it would be a voluntary scheme. We want it to be universal, just as it is voluntary to carry credit cards and they are universal, and just...

Opposition Day — [15th Allotted Day]: Identity Cards (6 Jul 2009)

Alan Johnson: I shall come to cost in a moment. As for airside workers, we expect that ID cards would be made free to them for the next 18 months. We expect that removing the argument about whether identity cards are compulsory and ensuring that those workers get the same benefit as all other British citizens from a voluntary scheme will mean that we can speed up the process and get much wider coverage...

Opposition Day — [15th Allotted Day]: Identity Cards (6 Jul 2009)

Alan Johnson: ..., voluntary alternative—a convenient piece of plastic to match all the others that people carry, rather than a valuable booklet. As I announced last week, I shall accelerate the roll-out of identity cards so that as many people as possible are able to access their benefits. Beginning in the Greater Manchester area, we will quickly move to the rest of the north-west and roll out the...

Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department: National Identity Scheme (6 Jul 2009)

Alan Johnson: No. The reasons that we set out to the British people—in an election that we won—on why we would introduce ID cards are exactly the reasons for introducing them now. We have not scrapped cards; we are accelerating their introduction— [ Laughter. ] It is absolutely true. We planned to sign a medium-term contract next year; we are now going to sign it in the autumn. We planned...

Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department: National Identity Scheme (6 Jul 2009)

Alan Johnson: We will have more time to debate this issue at 7 o'clock this evening, but I have to tell hon. Members, including Opposition Members—at my press conference I used the term diddly-squat, which is probably not recognised by Hansard writers, let alone by British journalists—that the idea that the national debt could be halved by the abolition of ID cards is simply ludicrous. The...

Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department: National Identity Scheme (6 Jul 2009)

Alan Johnson: ...issue. As he says, he held that view when the whole Conservative party was in a different place. I respect his position, although I do not agree with him on this point. There has been a voluntary ID card in France for many years. My French friends would look askance at any suggestion that that somehow breached their civil rights—

Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department: National Identity Scheme (6 Jul 2009)

Alan Johnson: My hon. Friend is already reverting to the French way in his questions. I fundamentally disagree with him. We are committed to a biometric passport. The Prime Minister said when he came to office in 2007 that that passport could be used as an identity card. People will have the choice of whether to get an identity card as well. I believe that my hon. Friend agrees that we need to have...

Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department: National Identity Scheme (6 Jul 2009)

Alan Johnson: The scheme is of greater use: if people want to use ID cards, instead of their passports, to travel around Europe, for instance, they can. Many people will find that attractive, particularly people who would rather pay the lower amount and only ever want to travel around Europe. Many other people will find it extremely convenient to take out an ID card, perhaps as proof of age, rather than...

Written Answers — Trade and Industry: Identity Cards (12 Dec 2005)

Alan Johnson: The Department has not finalised current best estimates of the cost of using the ID Cards Scheme to support the services which it oversees.