Report - Guardian

32 The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005but that in my judgment now, the logistics is the only time delay in it,otherwise I think it needs to move forward.” 25However, some contention arose. The Home Affairs Committee report in July 2004differed from the consultation differed from the Government’s stated view:“The Home Office is taking decisions about the nature of the cardwithout external assessment or public debate.” 26When the Bill was first presented to the Parliament, the consultation session was againat issue. In the second reading in the House of Lords, the Government was asked if itwould work with the LSE. This followed speeches by a number of Lords during whichthe interim report had been commended to the House. The response from BaronessScotland again heralded the consultation process:“[T]hroughout the passage of the Bill it has been clear that the HomeOffice has been assiduous in trying to ensure that, wherever possible,we or our officials have attended meetings, engaged in consultationand given briefings. I do not know the history regarding the LSE but Ican assure the noble Baroness that consultation is one thing on whichwe seem to have excelled on this Bill, as on so many.” 27It is therefore essential that we review the consultation processes to bring out the varietyof comments, ideas and reports that contributed to the legislative process.There have been three formal consultations with respect to entitlement/identity cards,relating to successive generations of papers and legislation. The first was “EntitlementCards and Identity Fraud: a Consultation Paper”, which was presented July 2002 withresponses due January 2003. 28 Next came “Legislation on Identity Cards: aConsultation”, presented April 2004 with responses due July 20 th 2004. 29 In themeantime, the Home Affairs Committee took oral and written evidence from a varietyof organisations, individuals, and private companies between December 11 th 2003 andJune 15 th 2004; its report was published on July 20 th 2004. 30The “Identity Cards Bill” was published on November 29 th 2004 and was amended inthe House of Commons Standing Committee B on January 27 th 2005. 31 A slightlyamended version was re-introduced into the new Parliament on May 25 th 2005. 32 All ofthese documents are archived and publicly available in a special section of the HomeOffice's Web site. 3325 ‘Blair puts compulsory ID card on fast track for UK’, The Register, April 2, 2004, available athttp://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/02/blair_puts_compulsory_id_card/26 Home Affairs Committee, Fourth Report of Session 2003-2004, Volume 1, July 20, 2004.27 Hansard, House of Lords, March 21, 2005, available athttp://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199900/ldhansrd/pdvn/lds05/text/50321-26.htm28 http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs/entitlement_cards.pdf29 http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs3/identitycardsconsult.pdf30 Home Affairs Committee Report.31 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmbills/049/2005049.htm32 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmbills/009/2006009.htm33 Reachable at http://www.identitycards.gov.uk or http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/comrace/identitycards/index.html.