Identity Cards Bill

moved Amendment No. 96A:"Page 43, line 8, leave out paragraph (c)." The noble Lord said: The amendment seeks to delete the final sub-paragraph from paragraph 9 of Schedule 1. As noble Lords by now will know, paragraph 9 is the most sensitive part of Schedule 1: it allows the most intimate information vis-à-vis the national identity register to be captured by the state, in effect, in respect of any person with an ID card. Paragraph 9 is given special treatment, quite rightly, in various parts of the Bill because of the sensitivity of its information, which is sometimes referred to as ““audit trail”” information. For example, Clause 19(4) refers to the rights of certain public authorities to access data on the national identity register but it does not extend to paragraph 9 information. This is a probing amendment because I am anxious to know what is meant to be covered by paragraph 9(c), which is couched in wide terms. Nearly everyone who has spoken has said more than once that we have a duty with a Bill of this nature to be quite sure that we know what we are letting ourselves in for hereafter—or, rather, what we are letting our fellow citizens in for—and to be sceptical as to the need for a wide definition of powers. It is not at present clear to me what sub-paragraph (c) is intended to capture beyond the clear provisions of sub-paragraphs (a) and (b). I await with interest the Government’s response to the amendment, which I am prepared to withdraw if what they say is satisfactory to the Committee. I beg to move.