Identity Cards Bill

In that case, the noble Lord will not get a clean sweep, which I believed we might have succeeded in giving him. Amendment No. 211A would remove the power to provide information from the Register for the purpose of facilitating a determination of whether criminal investigations or criminal proceedings should be initiated or brought to an end in the United Kingdom or elsewhere. We do not believe that that is right. In our view that it is necessary to retain the power to provide information under Section 17(2)(d) of the Anti-terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001. For example, if a foreign prosecuting authority has arrested a British citizen on suspicion of an offence but our British citizen maintains that he was still in the UK when the offence took place, if information from the Register would prove that he was indeed within the UK on the date in question, surely we would want to provide that information to the authority holding him in order to effect his release. That situation is not covered by Section 17(2)(d) because until the authority abroad knows whether the alibi is genuine, it cannot decide whether to initiate proceedings or, if they have already begun, to bring them to an end. The measure has a practical and not insignificant purpose. I take up a point made earlier—Clause 20(1)(b) is expressly subject to compliance with regulations under Clause 23. It is not covered by Section 17(2)(c). I have already explained why Section 17(2)(d) is needed.