To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the (a) total and (b) net cost of (i) integrating the proposed identity card scheme into his Department's IT systems and (ii) the ongoing operation of the scheme within his Department.

The Home Office has developed its current best estimate of the cost of using the ID cards scheme to support the services which it oversees and these costs have been incorporated into the business case. The Ministerial Committee on Identity Cards which oversees the work on benefits planning and realisation, is chaired by my hon. Friend the Minister of State Tony McNulty and I represent the interests of Home Office and the services it oversees on the Committee.

In deriving these estimates account has to be taken of current and planned levels of investment in similar or related technologies and the types of use required to support the particular services which the Home Office oversees. Not all services will require a high degree of integration between the ID cards scheme and other IT systems. Where there may be a need for integration, some costs can be absorbed into the usual cycles of system upgrades and technology refreshes.

We cannot release the detailed estimated costs for integrating IT systems and the ongoing operation of the identity cards scheme within the Home Office and the services which it oversees at this stage as these elements may be acquired from the market. The estimates are therefore commercially sensitive and to release them may prejudice the procurement process and the Department's ability to obtain value for money from potential suppliers.