Identity Cards Bill

moved Amendment No. 55:"Page 3, line 16, at end insert—" ““(   )   Details of any entry made in the Register must be provided to the person in respect of whom the entry is made.”” The noble Baroness said: In moving Amendment No. 55, I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 167 and 187. Amendment No. 55 is simplicity itself. It guarantees that details of any entry made in the register must be provided to the person in respect of whom that entry is made. What could be unreasonable about that? Without such clarification—without such assurances that information about an individual will not be stored, added to or removed without his knowledge—the citizen would be in a position of insecurity. Amendment No. 167 inserts a new subsection into Clause 12. That clause sets out how we shall have to notify changes in circumstances to keep the national identity register up to date. If we fail to do that, we face a civil penalty of up to £1,000. It is therefore important that systems are in place to enable us to carry out that duty effectively and easily without facing the threat of a penalty—or a fine. As my noble friend Lord Onslow said earlier today, whatever one calls it, it will feel like a fine. Amendment No. 167 gives every individual entered on the register the right to be sent a copy of the information held on him by the Secretary of State. I emphasise that Amendment No. 167 is a probing amendment because I realise the cost implications of doing what it requires. The purpose of the amendment is to probe how the process will take place, particularly because when my honourable friend Patrick Mercer moved this amendment in another place on 14 July, he did not get a reply from the Minister because the Government had put in the knives. So this is the first opportunity for the Government to answer the question. Amendment No. 187 is in a similar vein to Amendment No. 55. It inserts a requirement in Clause 14 for the Secretary of State to supply an individual with all or any of the information recorded about him on the register, if that individual asks for it. I beg to move.