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Identity Cards Bill

It will not surprise the noble Lord that I cannot accept either of his Amendments Nos. 73 and 80A. I shall address my comments to the noble Lord on his manuscript amendment. This amendment would have the effect that information could not be recorded in the register unless it was included in the registrable facts in Clause 1(5). It has always been our intention that no personal information can be held on the register unless it could be defined as a registrable fact. Schedule 1(1) to (4) lists in detail what information may be recorded in the register. It is our view that all of the information in those paragraphs is covered by the registrable facts. When bringing government amendments back on Report, however, we hope to put beyond any doubt the answer to a point which the noble Lord, Lord Phillips of Sudbury, has made in earlier debates as to whether Clause 1(5)(b) allows us to record someone’s principal place of residence. I stand by what was said earlier on that issue, but we are, as always, grateful to the noble Lord for raising the point. It is our intention to make the position even clearer than it currently is. Clause 3(1) provides that the only information which may be recorded in the register is that included in Schedule 1; information of a technical nature for the administration of the scheme and the issue of cards; and voluntary information. If this amendment were accepted, it would have the result that the register would not be able to hold information of a technical nature that is contained in Clause 3(1)(b) and (c). The result of this would be that, without the technical information, the register would be unable to function. The noble Lord may have a secret desire for that to be the case, but I do not think that is the intention of the amendment, and I am sure that noble Lords would not wish to exclude information of a technical nature if the result was that the register would be rendered useless. I understand the concern behind the noble Lord’s amendment. I hope I have convinced him that it is undesirable. On the understanding that we shall bring something back on Report on the specific point of principal places of residence, I invite the noble Lord to withdraw the amendment and not to press the earlier amendment to which he referred.