David Davis (Shadow Home Secretary (Assisted By Shadow Law Officers), Home Affairs; Haltemprice & Howden, Conservative)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who is responsible under the Identity Cards Act 2006 for (a) notifying him of an individual's death and (b) returning the deceased's identity card; and what the penalty will be for the failure to comply with those requirements.

John Reid (Home Secretary; Airdrie & Shotts, Labour)

Specific arrangements for dealing with identity cards of deceased persons have yet to be decided. However, we intend to work closely with the General Registrar Offices to ensure that the notification of death and return of the ID card can be done in a sensitive manner, without causing undue distress to the bereaved. For example, GROs' guidance on death registration is likely to include instructions on what to do with passports, ID cards and other documents. Although the Act does not require anyone to report the death of an individual who is registered, the powers under section 9 allow data to be disclosed for the purposes of verifying the information held on the Register. This could also include data collected by the Registrars General on those who have died and thus avoid the need to report a death on two occasions.

While section 11(3) states that a person who is knowingly in possession of an ID card without the lawful authority of the individual to whom it was issued or the permission of the Secretary of State must surrender the card as soon as it is practicable to do so, this is intended to prevent the misuse of cards and not directed at bereaved relatives of the deceased.