Identity Cards Bill

My Lords, I reassure the noble Earl that all those facts are being taken into account. I am sure that the noble Earl is not suggesting that the coincidence of having biometric data that identify the face, the eyes and the 10 biometric identifiers from the fingers all taken together, if they all coincide, means that it is less likely that it is the person that is so identified. I am sure we will enjoy the opportunity in Committee to discuss those issues, on which there is clearly not total agreement. The view expressed by the Government is that the data are sufficiently robust to make us confident that those matters can be safely overcome. We were asked on a number of occasions what the purposes of the Bill are. I hope that in my opening I made clear the purposes in relation to national security, prevention and detection of crime, immigration control, illegal working and the basis on which people can be identified. All those purposes were clearly outlined and we will come to discuss them in greater detail. The noble Lord, Lord Phillips, rightly raised the issue of what will happen if one has more than two names. I assure noble Lords that Clause 1(7)(a) and (b) enable both or all the names by which someone is known to be registered in a way that gives clarity. On the question of the audit log, the provision of the audit and information to the police will be possible only in relation to serious crime. It will not be generally available if the issues are not serious. Not all crime, as the noble Lord suggested, will be affected. We recognise that information should be subject to a higher level of protection.