Identity Cards Bill

My Lords, the noble Lord is talking about two different things. He is right to say that we may need a certain amount of time to introduce what he describes as complex technology. Incidentally, the Government keep telling us that the technology is extremely simple and that the Passport Office is doing it anyway. The introduction of the technology is not what accounts for most of the delay but it is only when people apply for new passports, because their present passports have expired, that they will be forced down that route. It has nothing to do with a delay because it is desirable to hold things up while the technology is tested; they have chosen a route that depends entirely on the pace at which current passports expire.