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Identity Cards Bill

The noble Lord, Lord Selsdon, will know from our earlier debates that, provided those areas have been prescribed in an order—we have gone through how that will happen—it will be possible for people voluntarily to place additional information on the register that may assist in that regard. We are not minded to compel that, but if individuals wish to have that kind of data held on their records, and if both Houses decide that that should be added, we have a vehicle through which that could be done. The noble Lord is right to emphasise, as he has on a number of occasions, the advantages that the emergency services may derive from that. The noble Baroness talked about the provisions that we introduced at the time of the tsunami when we needed an efficient and effective way of providing succour to people in quite dire circumstances. If we have the technology and the ability to do that, it is incumbent on us to do what we can to reduce the distress that occurs in those kinds of situations.