Identity Cards Bill

I am sure that my hon. Friend the Minister will intervene if I am wrong. At the very least, the subsection that the hon. Gentleman quotes is an indication that the schedule could not be changed without the approval of the House. All hon. Members must know someone who has had their card stolen and their identity stolen, perhaps by someone going through rubbish and picking out their credit card numbers. That is one of the fastest growing crimes. Quite apart from the effect on the individual whose identity is stolen, the average time taken to sort out the financial problems caused by identity theft is 60 hours, and in some cases goes up to 240 hours. Individuals who are victims of identity crime may be compensated by the banks, which are held responsible, but the banks must recover their costs from us in bank charges. The average person in the UK pays at least £25 or £30 a year through bank charges to cover the cost of ID fraud. Wednesday sees the introduction of chip and pin to make savings on fraud, but the savings to be made from reducing ID fraud through the ID card are far greater. If those who make the cost argument were to succeed, they would have to argue that the cost of the card is nearly 10 times higher than the Home Office says. All the indications are that the costs of ID fraud are rising. The benefits of curbing it are likely to be higher. The Minister announced from the Home Office this week that the cost to the country of ID fraud has increased from £1.3 billion to £1.7 billion.