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Shops may take ID card biometrics People 'can't wait for ID cards'
(about 4 hours later)
Supermarkets could be asked to take people's fingerprints as part of the government's identity card scheme. Jacqui Smith says public demand means people will be able to pre-register for an ID card within the next few months.
The Home Office is talking to retailers and the Post Office about setting up booths to gather biometric data. The cards will be available for all from 2012 but she said: "I regularly have people coming up to me and saying they don't want to wait that long."
It comes as Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced ID cards would be issued to airside workers at Manchester and London City airport from late 2009. The home secretary made the claim as she unveiled revised ID scheme plans.
The Home Office denied the 18-month trial was a retreat on plans to issue all 200,000 airside workers with cards. Opposition parties say they would scrap the ID card scheme. The Tories call it a "complete waste of money". The Lib Dems call it a "laminated poll tax".
"We made it clear when we published the Delivery Plan in March 2008 that ID cards for critical workers would be 'starting in the second half of 2009' and we are on track to meet this commitment," a Home Office spokesman said. They accused Ms Smith of backtracking on plans to issue ID cards in 2009 for all airside workers, by announcing they would pilot them at just two airports.
The spokesman said it was not a pilot project as ID cards would definitely be issued to the remaining airside workers in due course, as a precursor to a wider roll-out to the rest of the population. The first biometric cards are being issued, to students from outside the EU and marriage visa holders, this month and it had been planned to make them compulsory for all 200,000 airside workers from 2009.
But campaigners NO2ID said it was a "transparent attempt to save ministerial face" after anger from airport unions and airline bosses. 'Saving face'
Voluntary system But instead the government announced there would be an 18-month trial, for airside workers at Manchester and London City airports only, from late next year.
The Unite union, which represents airport workers, has said staff are already extensively vetted before being given airside passes. Campaigners No2ID said it was a "transparent attempt to save ministerial face" amid opposition from unions and airline bosses, who say it is unjustified and would not improve security.
We are seeing a rather transparent attempt, I think, to save some ministerial face Phil Booth, No 2 ID campaign class="" href="http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=5602&edition=1">Send us your comments Unions had argued airside workers were already extensively vetted and believe they would have to pay £30 for a card - although it is understood they would be free during the trial period.
Airport unions have been resisting the scheme, saying workers would have to pay £30 for a card to do their jobs. I believe there is a demand, now, for cards - and as I go round the country I regularly have people coming up to me and saying they don't want to wait that long Jacqui SmithHome Secretary class="" href="http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=5602&edition=1">Send us your comments
However, it is understood that the cards would be issued free during the evaluation period. Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve described the decision to trial ID cards at just two airports as "clearly a climbdown" and "just a gimmick" aimed at selling the scheme to the public.
Airlines including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and EasyJet, also spoke out against the plan, saying it was "unjustified" and would not improve security. But a Home Office spokesman said they had always said that "ID cards for critical workers would be starting in the second half of 2009 and we are on track to meet this commitment".
On plans to involve retailers and the Post Office in the ID cards scheme, a spokesman said it would be "more convenient" for people than the government's original plan to set up enrolment centres in large population centres. He added ID cards would definitely be issued to the remaining airside workers in due course, before being rolled out to the wider population.
The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) would continue to carry out enrolment at its offices but a spokesman said it also wanted to "drive down costs using market forces and competition" and was talking to a "range of high street retailers and other organisations". Supermarket enrolment
Data security In a speech to the Social Market Foundation Ms Smith said cards would be issued on a voluntary basis to young people from 2010 and for everyone else from 2012.
He stressed that security of data would remain the "utmost priority". She added: "But I believe there is a demand, now, for cards - and as I go round the country I regularly have people coming up to me and saying they don't want to wait that long.
"Any third party involved in enrolment would be accredited and audited to ensure they meet and continue to meet robust and strictly administered security standards. "I now want to put that to the test and find a way to allow those people who want a card sooner to be able to pre-register their interest as early as the first few months of next year." Biometric cards are being issued to some foreign nationals from this month
"System design standards will ensure that no data is stored locally and that all data is transmitted directly to IPS using a secure communications link. In addition all locations and personnel will be subject to strict security standards set by IPS." She told the BBC: "We'll see where that interest is, and then we'll see if we can issue some cards to those who've expressed an interest by the end of next year."
But Phil Booth, national coordinator of the NO2ID campaign, said the government would struggle to find private firms willing to bid for the ID card contract. People applying for cards and passports from 2012 will have to provide fingerprints, photographs and a signature, which Ms Smith believes will create a market worth about £200m a year.
"The government is selling a pig in a poke. What company is going embarrass itself to the tune of millions for a contract that everyone outside the Home Office itself knows will be cancelled by a new administration?" he said. And in changes to earlier plans the Home Office is talking to retailers and the Post Office about setting up booths to gather biometric data.
'Bullying' claim 'Trusted environment'
He also claimed the government had performed a "complete roll-back" by limiting the trial to two airports. The government believes it would be "more convenient" for people and cheaper than setting up its previously planned enrolment centres in large population centres.
"We are seeing a rather transparent attempt, I think, to save some ministerial face," he said. In her speech Ms Smith rejected claims handing enrolment over to private firms would compromise security.
"The unions and the industry are clearly opposed to this and if the government were to try to force this on the 200,000 airside workers they had previously claimed then they would find themselves either in court or facing industrial action." "Provided that it is conducted in a secure and trusted environment, by service providers accredited and verified by the IPS and to high and rigorously enforced standards, enrolment should be able to happen at the convenience of the customer - on the high street, at the nearest post office, or at the local shopping centre."
He accused the home secretary of "bullying" workers to join a scheme which was less stringent than existing airport vetting rules. What company is going embarrass itself to the tune of millions for a contract that everyone outside the Home Office itself knows will be cancelled by a new administration? Phil BoothNo 2 ID
'Waste of money' The overall cost of the ID card scheme over the next 10 years has risen by £50m to £5.1bn in the past six months, according to the government's latest cost report.
Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve, for the Conservatives, said the decision to trial ID cards at just two airports was "clearly a climbdown" and "just a gimmick" aimed at selling the scheme to the public. Phil Booth, national coordinator of the NO2ID, said the government would struggle to find private firms willing to bid for the ID card contract.
He told BBC News the Tories would axe the whole scheme because it was "a complete waste of money" and the party had asked for "break clauses" to be inserted into government contracts so it could be ended "without massive cost and waste to the public purse". "What company is going embarrass itself to the tune of millions for a contract that everyone outside the Home Office itself knows will be cancelled by a new administration?" he said.
For the Conservatives Mr Grieve said his party would axe the whole scheme because it was "a complete waste of money" and had asked for "break clauses" to be inserted into government contracts so it could be ended "without massive cost and waste to the public purse".
The government's plan to involve retailers in enrolling people was "worrying" given the government's IT track record, he added.The government's plan to involve retailers in enrolling people was "worrying" given the government's IT track record, he added.
"We know that the government has a real problem keeping control of public data and I am at a loss to see how they can provide that reassurance if in fact they are rolling out part of this scheme through the private sector." Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "Ministers are choosing a limited number of guinea pigs at two smaller airports because they are aware of how unpopular ID cards are.
He added: "It is going to amass a database which we think will be white elephant in terms of any practical benefits but will in fact be a serious risk to individuals that they may well in fact have their identities hijacked by another person." "The government is too scared to force ID cards on voters before an election because they know it would be a laminated poll tax.
He said the government was also preparing to unveil a further rise in its original cost estimate, which he claimed would now top £15bn. "The problem is not the ease with which we can give up sensitive personal data, but the ease with which the Home Office loses it. The Government cannot be trusted to keep personal information safe."
The Liberal Democrats are also opposed to the ID card scheme and have said they would scrap it.