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Identity Cards Bill

My hon. Friend has examined the information that the Home Office has put out assiduously. KPMG examined the methodology behind the entire business case in considerable detail. She is right that it considered 60 per cent. of the assumptions underlying the scheme, but it gave the figures to show that the identity cards team produced a clean bill of health. We are giving a commitment today on the six-monthly reports in response to the amendment tabled by my right hon. Friend the Member for Holborn and St. Pancras precisely because we want to be as open as possible and to allow people to get up-to-date information about how the scheme is progressing. Indeed, the reports could be a helpful focus for the Home Office when it ensures that the costs are kept under control. If the costs change in the way in which my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Lynne Jones) suggests, a public debate on those costs will follow. As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for South Derbyshire (Mr. Todd), she can be confident that we want to put as much information in the public domain as possible, while respecting the wish to get the best possible deal for the taxpayer. I hope that the House will disagree to Lords amendments Nos. 1, 68, 69 and 70. As I indicated, we will support the much more sensible and workable amendment that has been tabled by my right hon. Friend the Member for Holborn and St. Pancras.