Report - Guardian

204 The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005“The actual amount charged to a person will depend on future policydecisions on charging within the scope allowed by the Identity CardsBill ….” 478It has been suggested that organisations wishing to perform on-line verification wouldhave to pay for the link and for the card readers. The readers were estimated at £250-£750, depending on their level of sophistication.These numbers are surprising in view of a biometrics report commissioned by theGovernment, written by the National Physical Laboratory, which predicted costs asbelow.Item Unit Cost Number Item CostLicence fees for £1 per person 50,000,000 people £50 millionbiometric components,software, etc.Biometric hardware at £5000 per front office 2000 offices £10 millionfront officeBiometric hardware for £2000 per front office 2000 offices £4 millionremote enrolmentHardware at back£10 millionoffice, networks, etc.Marketing and publicity £1 per person 50,000,000 people £50 millionEnrolment (allowing 10minutes per person)Staff costs £40 per hour 50,000,000*10/60 hours £330 millionTable 5 - Costs of 2003 Proposed Scheme, from 'Feasibility Study on the Use of Biometrics in anEntitlement Scheme', for UKPS, DVLA and the Home Office, page 29.While this outlined merely the ‘Entitlement Card’ scheme of 2003, biometric hardwarewas already estimated at £5000 per office.The Importance of ScopeOne consistent problem with the Government’s statements on the estimated cost of theNational Identity scheme has been the absence of any scope statement to define how thecosts have been calculated. The various figures cannot be compared when there is nocommon baseline against which to evaluate them; nor can an independent assessment becompared directly with Government figures.What is clear is that the cost of the National Identity Cards scheme has been bound intothat of passport reform, since these two areas share many common functions and issues.Confusing Passports and ID CostsThe Government has stated its intention to absorb the costs of the National Identityscheme by increasing the cost of passports. However, this has lead to confusion betweenidentity cards and passports, and a blurring of the boundaries of functionality and cost.In an article published on his first day as Home Secretary, Charles Clarke commented inthe Times:478 Ibid.