Identity Cards Bill

moved Amendment No. 165:"Page 10, line 11, leave out ““include”” and insert ““are””" The noble Baroness said: In moving Amendment No. 165, I shall speak also to Amendment No. 166. I am grateful to note that they are supported by the noble Lords, Lord Phillips and Lord Dholakia. Grouped with them are Amendments Nos. 268A and 268B, which are tabled in the names of those noble Lords. My amendments would have the effect of restricting the Secretary of State’s power to require organisations to provide information to him in order to verify the information held on the national identity register. The clause deals with the provisions that the Government believe to be necessary to allow data to be shared with the Secretary of State and designated documents authorities in order that information on the register may be verified. In the past, I have referred to the duty under subsection (1) for a person to provide information to the Secretary of State so that an entry on the national identity register can be verified. It was part of a previous debate on another group and it is part of Clause 11(1). Clause 11(4) makes it clear that the requirement to provide information can be imposed on anyone specified in an order—for example, local government or the private sector. My amendments focus on the provisions of subsection (5) that clarify subsection (4). The Explanatory Notes tell us that the organisations or people who could fall foul of this duty could also include central government organisations and the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland and Wales. The effect of the amendments would be to exclude anyone else from falling foul of that duty. How do the Government intend to extend the list of those bodies that will be required to provide information to the Government? I was not reassured by the Minister’s answer in another place on 14 July. He said:"““The checks mentioned in the clause will be modest and generally limited to other Government databases, for example those of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and the Department for Work and Pensions””.—[Official Report, Commons Standing Committee D, 14/7/05; col. 280.]" He went on specifically to state that the Government might wish to use the information held on credit reference agencies’ databases and private databases. Can the Minister assure the Committee that information held on those databases is 100 per cent correct 100 per cent of the time? If it is not, why should that information be used to verify information on the national identity register? The Minister went on to say that,"““Some private sector organisations hold pretty wide databases with up-to-date biographic information””.—[Official Report, Commons Standing Committee D, 14/7/05; col. 281.]" So are the Government planning to buy into databases held by Tesco? I beg to move.