Identity Cards Bill

Mine is the final amendment in the group and concerns biometric information. I confess that I have a non-scientist’s anxiety about biometric information. I also confess that I share the broader sentiments of the noble Earl, Lord Onslow, and many others in the Committee who have expressed a general unease about the creation of what will be, in world terms, a uniquely powerful, centralised state database. I would be most grateful if the noble Baroness could assuage my concerns, although I do not expect her to do so now. First, we all accept that Clause 1 is the determining clause as regards the information that can be captured under Schedule 1. Schedule 1 has to be read as being, in all respects, circumscribed by the provisions of Clause 1. There arises my problem, in that Clause 1 makes no reference whatever to biometric information, whereas the schedule does in paragraph 2. Furthermore, biometric information is defined in Clause 43 as data about the external characteristics of an individual,"““including, in particular, the features of an iris””." I am not a scientist, a biologist or any other ““ologist””, but in my terms the iris is not an external feature but one that lies behind the surface. It is not, in common parlance, external. The noble Baroness may say that that is why we have specifically mentioned the iris in the definition in Clause 43, but it says ““including””, and ambiguity is created by including what is not an external feature in a definition of external characteristics. Secondly, in Clause 1—the key clause—subsection (7)(e) refers to physical characteristics capable of being used for identifying an individual. That is much wider, as I am sure the noble Baroness will agree, than biometric information as defined by Clause 43; for example, it does not say ““external physical characteristics””. If one wanted to be a literalist, it could include internal physical characteristics; that is to say, characteristics available only through X-ray determination or through the sampling of body fluids. I have tabled Amendment No. 183 to ask the noble Baroness whether on Report we might consider tightening up the linkage between Clause 1(7)(e), Schedule 1(2) and Clause 43, not forgetting that in Clause 3(5) the Secretary of State can modify the information that can be collected under Schedule 1 by an affirmative resolution passed in this and the other place. If I am right in thinking that ““physical characteristics”” in Clause 1(7) is a much wider provision than is contained in Schedule 1 vis-à-vis biometric information, Clause 3(5) could be used to enlarge considerably the scope of information beyond that envisaged. I apologise for that circumlocutory and complex attempt to explain my concern. I do not expect the noble Baroness to deal with it on the hoof, but it is the basis for my amendment.