The Government is to start rolling out ID Cards this
year - and applicants could have their fingerprints and digital
photos taken at Post Office and at other High Street retailers
which may become biometric enrolment centres.
The plan will make it harder for the Conservatives to cancel ID
Cards if they win next year's General Election. Cancelling the
scheme could take business away from post offices which could
deepen uncertainties over their future.
It will also be harder to cancel the scheme when thousands of
people in Greater Manchester have taken up the Government's offer
of a £30 ID Card. The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced today
that people in Greater Manchester will be the first to be able to
apply for ID Cards, from late 2009. Some retailers in Manchester
will acquire chip and pin ID Card readers.
Computer Weekly revealed last month that even if the
Conservatives cancel the ID Cards scheme the Oracle-based IT
infrastructure will remain largely intact because it supports the
issuing of biometric passports.
Much of the central costs of issuing ID Cards are factored into
the fees for new and replacement passports. Today's maximum cost of
a standard passport is £114.
People can register their interest in buying an ID Card on the
Directgov website which will tell them when the cards are
likely to be available in their area. From 2010 young people can
apply for an ID Card, and they will be available to the general
population from 2012. By November 2009, 75,000 foreign nationals
will already have an ID Card.
The plan is for UK citizens to have their fingerprints and
photos stored on the National Identity Register, which is being
built on the
Customer Information System run by the Department for Work and
Pensions.
Some biometric information will also be held on a chip in
passports and on the ID Card.
The Home Office says the National Identity Service will ensure
that take-up of the card and technological capabilities "build up
side by side". In its "cost report" published today the total cost
of the ID Cards scheme over 10 years is put at £4.95m, a rise of
nearly £200m, over the previous 10-year estimate.
The technology infrastructure will comprise 16% of the total
costs.
IBM and CSC have won the main IT contracts to be awarded so
far.
A Government "impact assessment" of the National Identity
Scheme, which is also published today, claims that ID Cards will
bring economic benefits of "up to £6bn over 30 years", which is
£200m a year.
Pharmacists may compete with the Post Offices to take
fingerprints and photos for applicants who apply for ID Cards, a
passport or biometric visa. Representatives of the Photo Marketing
Association International, which represents most suppliers of
portrait photos for all types of identity cards including
passports, is also talking to the Government about offering a
biometrics service to applicants for ID Cards.
Officials are marketing ID Cards as a means of people providing
proof of identity without having to reveal the address on their
driving licence or passport; and the card will be valid for travel
in Europe. Jacqui Smith claims that "private companies will clearly
benefit from the increased footfall" of offering an ID Cards read
service.
Last month
Computer Weekly revealed that the maximum cost of a passport
may rise to £200 to pay for ID Cards.
The Conservatives said the idea of trialling the scheme in one
city was "nonsensical". The Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling
said: "The government is split down the middle on ID cards but it
looks as if Jacqui Smith is carrying on regardless."
Ross Anderson,
Professor of Security Engineering at Cambridge University Computer
Laboratory, says the government has underestimated the costs of ID
Cards. The latest official estimates are "an order of magnitude
out".
Jacqui Smith may lose her job within weeks, says The Sun
today.
Technology behind ID Cards
CSC to take over up to 350 IT passports staff
Are passport fees paying for ID Cards?
Heading for the £200 passport to help pay for ID Cards