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Identity Cards Bill

The noble Baroness has made a very useful restatement of the role of the private sector, which I understand. But I am not sure that all identity service users in the private sector have taken the issue fully on board. Again, I refer to the interesting Home Office document, because it states that the users are positive towards the scheme, with 84 per cent of the sample likely to use the verification services and that they strongly support the scheme and will endorse that support by verifying identities. It is important that it is widely understood that although they may find it helpful, if the individual does not want to use it, they cannot go down that road. I slightly doubt that when they cast their votes in that way and gave their support, they were conscious that it was entirely a matter for the choice of the individual, not for identity service users. That is a point that must be got over widely because, confronted by a demand from a commercial organisation, there will be a tendency for individuals to believe that it may have some right to ask for it. The statement that the Minister has made is useful and I hope that that will be made clearer much more widely, because it is a very important distinction. I think that I got that on board before, but the fact that she emphasised it is important. Later, we shall probably want to consider how we deal with the whole issue and how it is approached to ensure that the system is not abused by commercial organisations that seek to give the impression that they have stronger rights than they have.