Identity Cards Bill

My hon. Friend asks a fair question. The £584 million relates to the cost in its totality of issuing biometric passports and ID cards and, crucially, of enrolling people. That is where the bulk of the costs of the process would be. It would be an annual cost that the expanded Passport Service would need. She is right to suggest that it is possible that payment for some of the set-up costs of the scheme could be delayed into the running costs of the scheme. That would be a way of financing the scheme that would require the private sector to fund the scheme up front, and the costs would be recovered over a longer period. Those would, quite properly, be issues for the procurement process. Obviously, we will seek to secure the best deal for the taxpayer when we make the decision.