Identity Cards Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 4:15 pm on 16 November 2005.

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Photo of Baroness Scotland of Asthal Baroness Scotland of Asthal Minister of State (Criminal Justice and Offender Management), Home Office, Minister of State (Home Office) (Criminal Justice and Offender Management) 4:15, 16 November 2005

Whether or not I should have been, I am quite happy to take the chastisement and will do as my noble friend has indicated.

Clause 13(2)(c) indicates that an ID card may be cancelled if it appears,

"that there has been a modification of information recorded in the entry in the Register of the holder of the card", and subsection (e),

"that it is an ID card of a description of cards that the Secretary of State has decided should be re-issued".

I hope that that helps the noble Lord. We do not think that it will cause confusion.

I should add a word or two in response to the comments made the noble Lords, Lord Crickhowell and Lord Selsdon, about hacking into the system. I at no stage underestimate the ingenuity of the hacker. All I say, as a statement of fact and not an incitement for them to hack more successfully, is that to date the systems we have put in place appear to have been effective.