No ID cards computer coming
The government has apparently scrapped plans for a national identity computer – instead relying on three existing systems to manage the new ID card scheme.
Under ID card strategic action plans unveiled today, the Home Office said rather than a single, new, multi-billion pound IT scheme the government will instead combine three existing databases.
But the home secretary denied this was a U-turn.
“We have decided it is lower risk, more efficient and faster to take the infrastructure that already exists, although the data will be drawn from other sources,” said John Reid.
“Doing something sensible is not necessarily a U-turn,” he added.
The National Identity Register (NIR) was first envisioned as a single, new computer system to prevent mistakes and duplications in the government’s existing IT systems.
Instead of this, the information will now be contained in three existing IT systems at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), the Home Office and the immigration and passport service.
The change has been leapt on by opposition parties.
Shadow home secretary David Davis said: “The use of existing databases is an admission of what will turn out to be a financial disaster for the taxpayer, with a cost overrun of billions of pounds due to badly designed, costly systems.
“The fact Mr Reid has tried to sneak this announcement out in a written statement that is not subject to scrutiny betrays just how fragile the government’s confidence in their own scheme actually is.”
Liberal home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg added: “These are sticking plaster measures in which the government is cutting corners to make the increasingly unpopular ID card scheme more palatable.
“The fact remains that however much John Reid rearranges the deckchairs, ID cards are doomed to be unacceptably expensive, intrusive and unmanageable.”
However, immigration minister Liam Byrne was bullish about the prospects for ID cards, at the launch of the strategic actions plans today.
He told parliament: “The action plan sets out how we will provide a comprehensive and secure way of managing the personal identity data of everyone who legally resides or works in the United Kingdom.”
The plans confirm that the Home Office will start issuing biometric ID to foreign nationals from outside the European economic area from 2008 and identity cards to British citizens from 2009.
“The national identity scheme is an ambitious and long term programme that will create a comprehensive identity management infrastructure for the whole of the United Kingdom,” Mr Byrne concluded.
