Identity Cards Bill

Obviously, I am being rather obtuse today and lack the clarity that I had hitherto thought I could be relied upon to give. The Government believe that £584 million will need to be expended on the Home Office agenda. The benefits to which I have just referred accrue in relation to that part of the agenda. So even if we put all other government departments aside and asked whether the system inured to the benefit of the citizen and was a cost-effective way of dealing with some fairly difficult and intractable issues, the Government would say that, looking at this one area alone, it would be justified and have real cost benefits. Other noble Lords say—I hope, rightly—that looking at the Government’s burden across the piece, additional benefits could accrue to many other departments that wished to avail of it within their individual identified budgets. I do not have those estimates for other departments because, so far as I am aware, there are no publishable figures on that, so I am not in a position today to assist noble Lords on that. I hope that I have made that as clear as possible. If the situation changes and I can give noble Lords further information, I would be only too happy to do so. But I would not advise noble Lords to hold their breath.