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Identity Cards Bill

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her question, to which the answer is yes. Clause 1(3) is the most troublesome subsection in the whole Bill. As I said both at Second Reading and on the first day in Committee, it is drafted in an extremely obscure way. I think that I did table an amendment to take out the word ““ascertained””, but I cannot be certain. Clause 17 is very important. As worded, there appears to be no restriction on someone asking the national identity card register for information under paragraph 9 of Schedule 1. Data under that paragraph is jealously protected elsewhere in the Bill, but is not protected at all here. That is another reason why these amendments are both necessary and good.