Identity Cards Bill

I do not know whether the noble Lord was with us when we had an extensive debate about the basis upon which a third party is entitled to receive information. Clause 14 concerns the provision of information, with consent, to a third party. That is distinct from a data subject access request under Section 7 of the Data Protection Act, which relates specifically to the individual. In my earlier answer, I tried to make it clear that Clause 14 is about verification by private organisations with the individual’s consent. We had quite some debate about this issue during our previous day in Committee. I had hoped that we could accept that that was the case. I appreciate that the noble Lord may not have been present throughout but we debated that subject extensively on that occasion. That is why there is a distinction between that part of the Bill and the Data Protection Act, and I hope that I have been able to clarify that to the Committee’s satisfaction.