---

Identity Cards Bill

That is an interesting thought, and it is perhaps a little unusual for the noble Earl to argue the case for a fresh order-making power to be written into a piece of legislation. I am not sure that I have heard him argue the point before, but I am challenged by the novelty of it. I suspect that we probably need to think about this a good deal more and have some more debate about it. I can see that it is an issue of greater substance than perhaps will be provided for in secondary legislation. It may come with the list of improvements that the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, has suggested she may like to be a part of at some later date. There is perhaps an interesting debate to be had particularly with historians and academicians about the issue, because I can see that it is of value. However, we would need to be very careful about the way in which we framed it, as we are about matters such as the 30-year rule, which of course has a great benefit in terms of the release of information from the Public Record Office and so on.