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2006-08-04 ID CARDS COMMITTEE REPORT REALLY PRETTY DAMNING4 AUGUST 2006: That's a Science and Technology report that will bring comfort to ID activists; it's full of polite scorn and camouflaged contempt for the Government's ability to manage science and technology projects. The contempt is reciprocated at quite a high level: the Committee, despite repeated requests, has not been allowed to see the Risk Register. Why not? "Issues of confidentiality" Joan Ryan told them. Or: "You're not trustworthy," as we say in English. Among the evidence, these nuggets: The Local Authority Smartcard Standards e-Organisation (LASSeO) has said that "Like other players outside central Government, we find the whole process highly opaque" According to other parties, it's been a case of no information, no feedback, no follow-through, no firm decisions, no published analysis, no reaction, no dialogue. Is it true? It rings true, doesn't it? * With just two years to go to the introduction of actual cards, Joan Ryan is still seeking "buy-in" from Government departments (Work and Pensions, Health, Criminal Records Bureau, the police and the Department for Communities and Local Government). As currently constituted, the cards don't work across Government departments. And probably won't, even with this elusive "buy-in". * The development is hindered by Home Office instinct for secrecy and the smoky confusion of Government in action. It isn't clear what the cards' purpose is, or even how many transactions they will accompany (in one recent six month peiod the official estimate rose from 163 million transactions to 771 million a year). * The changing emphasis (fraud, terror, crime, immigration, access to public services) means that the structure of the technological solution is uncertain. The Report says the Government still has no fixed idea of how much the cards will be used - or what they will be used for. "The boundaries still seem not to have been set." * Charles Clarke got the Bill through the House swearing til he was blue in the face that medical records would not - would never - be part of the plot. It was clear then that he wasn't telling the truth - because he had no power to bind his successors. Andy Burnham soon suggested "blood group, allergies, donor status" would be useful additions, and the new Joan Ryan said in June 2006: that the main aspirations of the scheme "should not exclude developmental work on using the card in other ways as time moves on". NB: Remember Peter Smith, acting commercial director at the Identity and Passport Service, is said to be planning for the possibility that ID cards could be "canned completely". David Foord, ID cards project director at the Office of Government Commerce, questioned whether the scaled-down version of the project was "even remotely feasible". And was quoted as saying: "I conclude that we are setting ourselves up to fail." Possible face saver: Joan Ryan's evidence said: "The ARC [Application Registration Card] card for asylum seekers is, in effect, an ID card". The Home Office has said that the identity cards programme would begin with the introduction of "biometric residence permits for foreign nationals in 2008". There are reports of an "early variant" identity card to be introduced by 2008, instead of the full, bang-up card. The Home Office has said there are no "firm plans" for a different type of card to be issued earlier than others. Forensic linguists explain: "The phrase 'no firm plans' confirms the existence of 'plans'. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ cm200506/cmselect/cmsctech/1032/103202.h ANSWERS ON A POSTCARD TO DOWNING STREET"How can there possibly be a religious war when actually what we want is for Jews and Muslims and Christians to live in peace with each other as they do here in our country?' Tony Blair, monthly press conference, 3 August 2006, AN ASIDEMel Gibson grovels well, I'll give him that. He's asking Jewish leaders to help his "recovery" from anti-Semitism. But what about his anti-English mania (Gallipoli, Braveheart, The Patriot)? Who will he be asking to help him recover from that? The Prince of Wales? Couldn't Tony Blair have given him the starter-pack when he was over there? | |
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