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Identity Cards Bill

The police records already have a national database in relation to the PNC. All that information is properly collated there. In relation to penalties, the information can often come from a civil sphere in terms of asylum seekers, for example. They have committed no criminal offence or transgressed our criminal law, but have applied for asylum. Perhaps it turns out that they were not so entitled and should have been removed. It is helpful to retain that data because if someone comes back into the country on a different name we could verify that that individual in a prior application had been refused asylum and was removed. It is not criminal but it is important for immigration control reasons to keep that information. The noble Earl talked about penalties and being imprisoned and charged. The penalties in this Bill are not criminal but civil.