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Identity Cards Bill

moved Amendment No. 134:"Page 6, line 20, at end insert ““; and" (   )   an appropriate review of the operation of the voluntary ID card scheme has been conducted under the auspices of the National Identity Scheme Commissioner and reported to Parliament.”” The noble Earl said: I hope this amendment is relatively straightforward. While emphasising the intention to move ultimately to a compulsory scheme, the Government make much of their claims that enrolment onto the national identity register is to be voluntary in the first instance. Indeed, as I have already suggested, this has been the primary mechanism for engendering public acceptance of the proposition. However, once the Bill is enacted, there is very little on its face to constrain the Secretary of State from making immediate application for it to become compulsory. At the very least, any move towards compulsion needs to be informed by independent analysis of the experience of the voluntary scheme, something that the national identity scheme commissioner would be ideally placed to provide. The Minister, at least in part, agrees with the point. As she said at Second Reading,"““government will need to be satisfied that initial rollout of identity cards has been a success before moving to compulsion””.—[Official Report, 31/10/05; col. 113.]" That is a sensible and proportionate way forward. Moreover, given that our debates on the Bill have revealed manifest concerns about costs, technology and a host of other matters, the argument in favour of a thorough review of the scheme before moving to compulsion is that much more persuasive. That is what the amendment provides. I beg to move.