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Identity Cards Bill

My Lords, during the short debate on Amendment No. 53, we discovered how wide the discretionary power of the Secretary of State to make entries in the register consistent with the statutory purposes is. We know that the statutory purposes are widely drawn. Although the Minister who replied in that debate gave us some limited and persuasive examples, she did not deny the fact that the scope of the clause was much wider. It therefore seems essential that individuals who may be affected should know exactly what the entry will be. Any other situation would be intolerable. That information about an individual that may be of considerable importance should be placed on a register, and placed there because the individual is considered to be infringing national security or some other crucial matter, without the individual knowing about it would be an extraordinary imposition on individual rights and freedom. It has been said the Data Protection Act perhaps provides for such an entry of information, but this amendment must be made to the Bill. My noble friend drew attention earlier to a case that has received publicity which suggests that the Data Protection Act can perhaps be overruled by later action and legislation. So for all those reasons, and I suspect that there would be a good many others if we were to probe the matter at greater length, I strongly support my noble friend’s amendment.