To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 28 June 2005, Official Report, column 1242W, to the hon. Member for Nottingham, South (Alan Simpson) on identity cards, whether the radio frequency identification technologies undergoing feasibility studies for biometric passports and identity cards include (a) read only tags, (b) read write tags and (c) both.

holding answer 5 July 2005

The identity cards programme is not investigating the use of radio frequency identification for tagging. We are considering the use of 'contactless chips', which contain radio frequency chips. We will ensure that sensitive data on the chip is encrypted and are aiming to do this through adoption of emerging International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards. These provide significantly more security of data than exists today.