Study finds ID scheme cancellation could save £3.1bn

Daily Newsletters

Sign up to ZDNet UK's daily newsletter.

NEWS

The next government could make multi-billion pound savings if it cancels identity cards and fingerprints in passports.

A detailed analysis of the National Identity Scheme's costs for UK citizens by Kable suggests the £4.95bn to be spent over 10 years could be reduced by £3.08bn to £1.88bn if a future government abandoned identity cards, the National Identity Register and fingerprints on passports.

The Conservative Party has pledged to cancel the cards and the register, but has not confirmed its view on fingerprints. Cancelling cards would remove the need to produce them in either case, but cancelling fingerprints in passports would make the application process cheaper, as it could involve sending photographs by post rather than using face-to-face enrolment, according to the research.

The government plans to record all 10 fingerprints when issuing passports and identity cards, although only two will be carried on the documents' microchips. Unlike the European Schengen countries, the UK is not obliged to place fingerprints on passports.

Kable estimated that home secretary Alan Johnson's recent revisions to the scheme will reduce its cost by £700m. The Home Office published the most recent cost estimates in May 2009, before Johnson revised the plans.

"The cancellation would impact almost every aspect of the National Identity Scheme," said Philippe Martin, senior analyst at Kable and the report's author. "Not only will it avoid the cost of producing the cards, but it will also reduce the large distribution costs associated with sending new or renewed cards for those which have been lost or stolen. It would also reduce the cost of application, enrolment and call-centre processing.

"The national biometric identification system would have to deal with a smaller portion of the population, as it would no longer include non-passport holders over the age of 16. Also, the subsequent costs of managing the ID card part of the scheme would also vanish.

Martin predicted that the passport is likely to remain as the main travel and authentication document for interacting with the state, with driving licences and cards issued by local authorities used for services that do not need such secure checks.

"However, new authentication systems are likely to be put in place to enable secure online interaction with the state," he added.

Talkback

The Data Protection Act states that information should be Adequate, relevant and not excessive.

If the government collect all 10 prints and only use 2 is this not against the above principle and therefore wrong?

315483 18 August, 2009 14:47
Reply

Yes id say the same thing not only for the other eight prints but also for some of the other information stored on the card, what was it 15+ slots available and only 7 or something used to date going by the report from the guys who broke the security on the cards.

CA 18 August, 2009 20:27
Reply

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

  • Login

Will not be displayed with your comment

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

dede0202

Hello ALL USERS OF THE PIRATE BAY I WOULD PUT AN EXPLANATION ON PIRACY Story Idea ILLIGALE AND SHARING THOSE THAT NET Dissent NOT WELL BUT TO CA...

2 hours ago by dede0202 on The Pirate Bay infringes copyright, High Court decides
Sungwoo

do You know that? it can install 4G Ram. So i buy 4g and install It work! I can run call of duty 4,6,7 [Modern war... 1,2,3] Call of duty 1 was...

2 hours ago by Sungwoo on Loose Ends - Upgrading the Aspire One 522
itsajob

2. Bad idea. Making up patch cables loses you your commission from the cable supplier. 3. If you tidy up, other people can understand where the...

8 hours ago by itsajob on Ten IT jobs to save up for those rare lulls
Roberto_Store

Now On Sale, Unlocked iPhone 4S / Galaxy Note In Factory Box. Roberto-Techie(UK) ”Now on Sales” Smartphone, Android,Tablets,Gadget &...

12 hours ago by Roberto_Store on Samsung Galaxy S III lined up for sale
Paul Smyth

Is this classic FUD? One thing I would definitely have notice is a Mozilla threat to stop supporting GNU/Linux.

14 hours ago by Paul Smyth via Facebook on Firefox rapid release improves Fedora Linux
UnderINK

I agree with the previous commenter wholeheartedly. I couldn't say it better myself. This is very 'Big Brother'. And while I agree with protecting...

18 hours ago by UnderINK on European e-identity plan to be unveiled this month
Simon Bisson and Mary Branscombe

Nice to see that Turing's idea of a general purpose computer doing once-hardware-powered tasks in software is now universal ;-) Mary

23 hours ago by Simon Bisson and Mary Branscombe on Software with everything
Jason Burchell

seriously now. I've only bothered to read a small bit of the comments. do me and the rest of the world a favour. stop saying it does not work or...

1 day ago by Jason Burchell via Facebook on Music industry negotiating over 24-bit downloads
Philip Charles Cohen

Read about it and weep, John Donahoe ... In addition to Visa’s V.me, there is now MasterCard’s PayPass digital wallet soon to arrive; another...

1 day ago by Philip Charles Cohen via Facebook on PayPal takes phone-based payments to the high street
apexwm

Leslie Satenstein : Where have you ever seen Mozilla even mention this? Firefox is the most popular browser in the GNU/Linux OS, so I don't see...

1 day ago by apexwm on Firefox rapid release improves Fedora Linux
songmaster

SHleG: Do you remember building a clockwork scorpion kit (I'm pretty sure I have a photo of it somewhere) — I think it was called something like...

1 day ago by songmaster on Software with everything
Chris Wortman

Good I love Yahoo! Their search engine is getting better than Google as of late. I find more of what I want on the first page, and usually within...

1 day ago by Chris Wortman via Facebook on Linux Mint 13 ramps up for KDE release
PatrickG

openhgs has made the point for Windows 8 multiple monitors without realising it! With Windows 7 you have to switch the mouse and so your focus...

2 days ago by PatrickG on Windows 8 could speed multi-monitor uptake
Leslie Satenstein

Mozilla has threatened to stop supporting Linux. I guess that UBUNTU is going with another browser. I indicated that if Mozilla stops supporting...

2 days ago by Leslie Satenstein via Facebook on Firefox rapid release improves Fedora Linux
Andy Bolstridge

Much as I abhor Microsoft's licensing practices, this is almost certainly down to purchasing IT equipment via 3rd party consultants - you get the...

2 days ago by Andy Bolstridge via Facebook on 6 million wasted licences and £1,200 PCs: welcome to government IT
Jack Schofield

@openhgs Windows users have had multiple desktops since Linus started writing Linux. They just haven't shipped as standard because not enough...

2 days ago by Jack Schofield on Windows 8 could speed multi-monitor uptake
Jack Schofield

@Phil at Cloud4 What, Microsoft gets £1,200 per PC and £1,622 per server? Gosh, I'm amazed....

2 days ago by Jack Schofield on 6 million wasted licences and £1,200 PCs: welcome to government IT
craigsc

You guys have no idea what is going on at Autonomy. Autonomy could have been a much more profitable organization. The sales operations at Autonomy...

2 days ago by craigsc on HP cuts 27,000 staff as Autonomy chief Lynch leaves
Moley

How does this impact on dual or multi booting? Seems to me to more or less prohibit this, from Windows 8 anyway. Will Grub 2 recognise Windows 8,...

2 days ago by Moley on Windows 8 start-up speed forces USB boot workaround
apexwm

I don't understand why there cannot be a slight pause during the boot process so the user can press a key. Many operating systems do this, even if...

2 days ago by apexwm on Windows 8 start-up speed forces USB boot workaround