Report - Guardian

24 The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005- On civil penalties (clause 33(6)), the Bill now states that “In proceedings forrecovery of a penalty ... no question may be raised as to ... the amount of thepenalty.”;- Clause 34(1)(b) has been added, making it possible to “give notice to theSecretary of State that [the defendant] objects to the penalty [on the grounds]that the circumstances of the contravention in respect of which he is liablemake the imposition of a penalty unreasonable”. The same grounds havebeen added to appeals in clause 35(1)(b);- Clause 37 (Fees in respect of functions carried out under Act), now has anew subclause (part 6) reading “References in this section to expenses thatwill be incurred for any purpose include references to expenses that theSecretary of State considers are likely to be incurred for that purpose oversuch period as he thinks appropriate, including expenses that will be incurredonly after the commencement of particular provisions of this Act.”;- Clause 40, dealing with amendments to references to “passports” in otherlegislation, has been modified to remove subclause 1, meaning “a valid IDcard ... which records that [someone] is a British citizen” would no longer beproof of right of abode under the Immigration Act 1971;- Clause 41 (Orders and regulations), has a new subclause 5, which deals withpowers to authorise or require “anything to be done by or in relation to anindividual under the age of 16”, and allows someone to be designated to acton the child’s behalf;- Clause 45 has had the reference to the Serious Organised Crime Agencyremoved.Overview of the schemeThe Identity Cards Bill is something of a misnomer in that the card element is only onepart of a much larger integrated scheme. The proposal is multi-faceted and far-reaching,and in its current form will involve substantial use of personal information within acomplex legal and technological environment.The Bill outlines an identity system that has eight components.The National Identity Register. This element is the information hub of thesystem. Clause 1 of the Bill imposes an obligation on the Secretary of State toestablish a central population register containing a wide range of details of everyUK citizen and resident aged from 16 years and 3 months.The code. Clause 2 (6) requires that every individual must be given a uniquenumber, to be known as the National Identity Registration Number (NIRN). Thisnumber will become the “key” for government and private sector organisations toaccess information on the register and, in certain circumstances, to share thatinformation.Biometrics. Clause 5 (5) requires individuals to submit to fingerprinting and“other” means of physical identification. This is likely to include electronic facialrecognition, signature and iris recognition.