The UK Passport Service has still not
completed online database checks to block fake IDs using the birth
certificates of dead infants, an official report has
revealed.
A United Kingdom Passport Service (UKPS) Fraud
Action Programme Update Report listed the project "Checking Infant
Birth/Death Records" as Item 1 in a summary of the work under
way.
The aim of the exercise is to carry out
retrospective data checks to identify fraudulent applications over
many years. The details will then be passed to the police for
investigation.
Northern Ireland is not expected to supply
data until March and, although Scotland already holds records
electronically, a timetable for matching and delivery of data has
still to be agreed, with completion not expected until March.
The report confirmed the UKPS expected to
introduce a new passport in 2005 with biometric identification,
primarily face recognition, along with iris and/or fingerprint
data.
A Home Office spokesperson blamed the delay on
the difficulty of preventing abuse of the statutory right of access
to public birth, marriage and death records.
The Home Office said the technology matching
birth and death records and linking with passport applications had
only become available "in recent years".
National Statistics Online published a major
report from the Cabinet Office on identity fraud in July 2002.