Identity Cards Bill

moved Amendment No. 176:"Page 11, line 41, at end insert—" ““(   )   Where an ID card has been cancelled under subsection (2)(a) to (d) and that cancellation has not been occasioned as a result of any action on the part of the individual to whom it was issued, it shall be the responsibility of the Secretary of State to issue an amended replacement card free of charge.”” The noble Earl said: As the drafting of the clause stands, the Bill seems to confer liability for an ID card becoming invalid wholly and exclusively upon the individual to whom it has been issued. Yet it is conceivable that in the circumstances defined by the relevant subsections, the individual may not have been responsible for this in any way whatsoever as a result of, say, bureaucratic error or a reader corrupting the data on the card, and so on. In such circumstances, it is disproportionate to require the individual to incur the expense of obtaining a replacement card. Indeed, this is another area where the scheme could discriminate against the most disadvantaged in society. To address the problem, the amendment proposes that, when an individual’s ID card is cancelled through no fault of his own, he should be issued with a replacement free of charge. Dare I say it, this represents a much more convenient and equitable arrangement. On that basis, I can but hope that it might inspire a sympathetic response from the noble Baroness. I beg to move.