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Identity Cards Bill

I want to make progress to answer some of the points that Members have raised during the debate. Let me make one thing clear to my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Lynne Jones): it is not and never has been our intention to create an elaborate database that would hold detailed personal profiles for every individual. Rather, it is our intention to create a system that takes basic personal facts about each of us—name, address and date of birth—which are already held on databases, such as those for passports or the DVLA, and link them to a unique personal identifier, such as a fingerprint or an iris scan.