Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Thursday, 8 June 2006.

Children Act: Information-Sharing

Question: My Lords, I thank the Minister for that relatively unconditional reply. Is he aware that Des Browne, at the time Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said in April that the Government were considering whether the information on the index could be used for other purposes, such as the national identity index behind the ID cards? Given the undertaking that the Minister has just made and those made to this House during the passage of the Bill, how can the Government justify such a statement?

Answer: My Lords, we would make no decision of that kind without full consultation and we have no proposals in train at the moment to do so. We have accepted the recommendation in the final report of the Citizen Information Project that we should consider the scope for a child population register, but a clear case would have to be made for it; primary legislation would be required, and we have no such plans.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 682 c1382
Session: 2005-06
Oral question type: 1st Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: Children Disclosure of information Databases Protection National identity register
Legislation: Children Act 2004
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk