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Identity Cards Bill

I tried to give an example of when someone could not claim entitlement under the provisions but it would make good sense to allow him to do so to meet the needs. For example, someone who is 15 and 364 days old may apply for a new passport, but because he is not yet 16 he is not entitled to have an ID card. It would be appropriate to enable him to have both. Subsection (4) enables us to have the flexibility to deal with the sort of situation that I have described. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Crickhowell, and I am grateful to him for seeing the utility and sense of having that flexibility. But the information that we provide would only be available to the Secretary of State. It does not enable information to be obtained from other sources. I gave examples, too, of those who we may not want to be included. Information is important to be held to disable them from taking advantage of an opportunity to obtain something that we would not wish them to have.