Identity Cards Bill

I will make progress now, but I hope to give way before I end my remarks. The Home Office benefits will, of course, play a significant part in realising the strategic benefits of the overall scheme, including protecting identity for the citizen, helping to reduce crime, protecting our national security, reducing the problems of illegal immigration and illegal working and enabling more efficient and effective delivery of public services. The running costs of the identity cards scheme will be funded from fees charged to passport and ID card applicants or to users of the identity verification service or from within existing departmental budgets. The fact that the bulk of the costs will be covered from fees means that, as I explained to Opposition Members earlier, without these fees, there is simply not a pot of money that could be diverted to other uses—whether it is more police officers or more immigration officers. The published unit cost of the joint passport and identity card package is £93 for both documents—a passport and ID card. The Home Secretary has also announced that it would be affordable to issue a stand-alone identity card for a fee of about £30, or £3 a year over 10 years. The Home Office agency that will be established to issue identity cards and incorporate the existing UK Passport Service will publish corporate business plans, as well as annual accounts. The full business case will be subject to extensive review—both internal and Treasury review—and challenge prior to the signing of contracts on identity cards. My hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow (Mr. Gerrard) urged me to comment on the detail of the Lords amendments. We cannot accept that there should be such an unprecedented review of the estimated costs of the identity card scheme, which would cover 10 years and the consequential costs that could fall on other Departments, before the Bill can come into effect. Such a review would not be necessary. It would be unprecedented that a Bill to fulfil a centrepiece manifesto commitment could be implemented only after a report on cost estimates had been completed, which would be the effect of Lords amendment No. 70. The logic behind the amendment is fundamentally flawed. It would appear to have been motivated by a desire to keep costs down, but, in practice, it would limit our ability to do precisely that. I am pleased to say that we are persuaded that we should include a commitment in the Bill to publish regularly—at six-monthly intervals—reports to be laid before Parliament, as is proposed in the new clause tabled by my right hon. Friend the Member for Holborn and St. Pancras. The measure is sensible, balanced and would not put value for money at risk. As I mentioned, subsection (4) of the new clause would allow the Home Secretary to decide to withhold information that might prejudice the procurement process.