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Identity Cards Bill

moved Amendment No. 29:"Page 40, line 17, at end insert ““(showing the features of the face)””" The noble Baroness said: My Lords, I do not think that I have spoken to Amendment No. 29, so I would like to explain it. The amendment will address the concerns that were expressed in Committee about the photographs to be held on the register. Those concerns are also, in effect, raised by the noble Baroness in her amendments. I am grateful to the noble Earl, Lord Northesk—unfortunately, I do not see him in his place—for originally raising the point that an individual could, if they wished, make mischief by turning their head from the camera so that the photograph would be of the back of their head, as the Bill expressed no requirement for the individual to show their face. As I noted at the time, the individual’s photograph would be taken by a trained operator at an enrolment centre, so I was not entirely sure that a problem would be presented in practice. However, I was persuaded that it would be useful to express that explicitly in the Bill, and I thank the noble Earl for his contribution. The amendment should meet the concern of the noble Earl and that of the noble Baroness, expressed in her amendment. Thus, I ask the noble Baroness to withdraw her amendment in favour of her avid support of the Government’s drafting. I beg to move.