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Identity Cards Bill

The noble Baroness kindly mentioned one of my favourite subjects which is emergency services and the data available to them, particularly as in a few years time we will have Galileo and all forms of GPS for communication. An identity base could be very helpful to the individual—though I oppose it in principle for others. For example, it could be useful for identifying blood groups, those who need particular medicines and those who suffer from particular diseases. Within that field no individual would feel concerned about making that data available. I had thought of raising this issue on Report. The Minister may consider a particular section for the emergency services where people could voluntarily provide life-saving data that could be available in the event of, say, a car crash or major disaster. Individuals could be identified and the relevant emergency or health data would be available.