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Identity Cards Bill

There is no question about it—it will cost a lot of money. The overall costs of the scheme range from, according to the Government’s figures, something towards the top end of £8 billion, to the LSE’s figures of between £19 billion to £22 billion. I have asked written parliamentary questions about the high street readers, which will be based in Department for Work and Pensions offices and those of other agencies, perhaps in hospitals and so on. I cannot guarantee to be accurate but, from memory, each individual reader machine will cost approximately £3,000. One can multiply that to get the total figure.