Report - Guardian

The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005 213Identity Cards Programme Gateway ReviewsThe Identity Cards Programme has been subject to Gateway reviews by the OGC. Thefirst such review was completed in January 2004. 501 The Home Affairs Committee wasinformed that the OGC had also conducted prior reviews. 502 The Home Office has,however, been reluctant to release the results of the reviews. The Government wasasked about this on January 31 st 2005,“Mr. Oaten: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish(a) the Office of Government Commerce's (OGC's) Gateway Zeroreview into the identity cards scheme and (b) all other OGC reviewsof the scheme. [208284]Mr. Boateng: I am currently reviewing whether there is any GatewayReview or other OGC review which should be published regarding theidentity cards scheme and I will write to the hon. Member as soon asthese considerations are complete.” 503A Freedom of Information Request was filed to gain access to the pre-Stage Zero andthe Stage Zero reviews. The OGC responded that the information was exempt from theFreedom of Information Act.“s.3391(b) and 92) of the Freedom of Information Act 200 (the Act)as OGC is a public authority with functions in relation to theexamination of the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with whichother public authorities use their resources in discharging theirfunctions, and disclosures of the requested information would, orwould be likely to, prejudice the discharge of those functions.The OGC gateway Review process depends for its efficacy andpromptness on 9a) the candour of interviewees and (b) the reasonablereliance then placed on reports by the particular individuals to whomreports are solely addressed (usually Senior Responsible Owners orSROs), the confidence of interviewees and the SRO in the integrity ofthe OGC Gateway process is thereby central to the success of theGateway Review process in the ID cards programme.” 504These exemptions are subject to the ‘balance of the public interest’, and required afurther fifteen days to complete that balancing exercise. The Home Office respondedwith a similar letter shortly afterwards. 505501 House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for December 9, 2004, pt25.502 Home Affairs Committee Minutes of Evidence – Volume II (HC 130-II), statement of Katherine Courtney to theCommittee under Question 36, posed on December 11, 2003.503 House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for January 31, 2005 (pt 11), available athttp://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmhansrd/cm050131/text/50131w11.htm504 Response under the Freedom of Information Act Request Reference no.92247, February 1, 2005, archived athttp://www.spy.org.uk/foia/archives/foia_requests_in_progress/ogc_gateway_reviews_of_the_identity_cards_programme/index.html.505 Response under the Freedom of Information Act Request from the Information Policy Team of the Home office,February 1, 2005.