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Identity Cards Bill

moved Amendment No. 114A:"Page 35, line 35, at end insert ““; and" (d)   to make special provision (including exemption) for those who by reason of disability or other good reason may be unable to do or disadvantaged in doing what otherwise may be required of them under any such order or regulation.”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, Amendment No. 114A seeks to amend Clause 41, which deals with the orders and regulations to be passed under the Bill. The amendment would add paragraph (d) to Clause 41(4). The wording of the amendment would make it abundantly clear that those with any kind of disability or disadvantage may be differently treated under the provisions of the Bill. I am well aware that Clause 41(4) already allows for the Secretary of State, or whoever else is making the regulations and orders, to make different provisions for different cases. Furthermore, in one of the subsections, the clause makes allowance for exemptions to be made with regard to such regulations or orders. This is a belt and braces amendment. It is advanced at the behest of a number of the disability NGOs, which want to be absolutely clear beyond peradventure that their members and beneficiaries will be treated fairly and justly. I am thinking, for example, of Clause 5(5), which will require citizens to attend at a certain place or time; to have fingerprints or other biometric information taken and recorded; to allow themselves to be photographed and so on. That is one of the very many requirements that the Bill places on citizens. No explanation is required to understand that some groups will be extremely anxious about what they might be required to do. I will not press the amendment. I accept that on one reading of Clause 41(4) it is wholly superfluous, and I hope that the Minister can say with untrammelled certainty that it is wholly superfluous, whereupon that will be the end of it. I beg to move.