Identity Cards Bill

First, I shall pick up two points made by my noble friend Lord Selsdon and by the noble Earl, Lord Erroll. I agree wholeheartedly with my noble friend Lord Selsdon that we expect and understand that the Government intend to provide as secure a system as is humanly possible in a technological world in which we know the ground is shifting all the time. As humans, we are all trying to keep up with those changes. The noble Baroness referred on a couple of occasions to the improvements in the recording of biometrics. She said that she took part in Monday’s trial, in which she found the recording of the colour of her eyes swift and straightforward. I recognise that things have moved on since I took part in the Government’s helpful system of offering peers a chance to get their ID card registered with biometrics in Black Rod’s Garden. I went there last summer—along with Andy Burnham by the sound of it, the Minister from another place—but my experience was not quite as fortuitous as his. The uplink collapsed twice during the process of that transfer of data. It took nearly 45 minutes to capture my data. I have problems with my fingerprints because over the years I learnt from my mother—a dressmaker—how to do dressmaking and I have obviously damaged some of my fingerprints. I also have what those who were trying to capture my facial biometrics called, ““a bland facial structure””. But I will live with that—I have no choice. I was told at the time that the technology was advancing and would continue to do so. We understand that the Government are trying to achieve the best and that technology is changing and will try to capture information and store it securely. But my noble friend Lord Northesk is right to direct us to the central question: how is that being done and what reassurances can the Government give us about the way in which they are going to set up secure systems? I appreciate that this is the beginning of a long debate in Committee and we will have the chance to refer to this but we will need to ensure that we do probe all these issues. All of us on this side of the House want to help the Government—the Minister may say that we always say we try and help them, but we genuinely want to help them here—to ensure that if they insist upon the national identity register as a way forward, it is the safest that it can possibly be for the people of this country to have such a vital range of information held upon them. The noble Earl, Lord Erroll, asked what happens if it goes wrong. Will the Government be held liable for damages? I raised the question briefly yesterday, and perhaps it will assist the Minister to know that I accepted then that there is a later amendment which is specifically targeted at this issue. I believe it is in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Phillips, but it certainly comes from the Liberal Democrat Benches. I anticipate that the Government will give us a full answer at that stage.