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Home Office admits to database breaches
News The Home Office has admitted that the security of its ID and passport service database has been compromised several times, but denied that remote hackers were responsible. Four of the five incidents involved members of staff accessing the ID and...
[August 31, 2006, 9:40]
Home Office admits loss of 3,000 workers' data
News The Home Office has lost the names, nationalities, passport numbers and dates of birth of 3,000 seasonal agricultural workers on two CDs in transit to the UK Borders Authority. The document also records that in June 2007 a parent discovered that a...
[August 12, 2008, 8:04]
Home Office denies e-passports can be faked
News A spokesperson for the Home Office told GC News that no-one has yet been able to demonstrate that they are able to change data within the passport chip, which stores the passport holder's photo and personal details.
[August 7, 2008, 9:00]
ID cards could replace passports, say gov't officials
News Speaking on Friday at the Home Office, Identity and Passport Service (IPS) officials said that, in theory, the biometric ID cards could also be used for identification purposes when travelling beyond the EU, if the UK can reach agreements with...
[November 24, 2008, 7:39]
IT glitch hits passport system
News The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) began its phase two trial of the new Siemens Business Service EPA2 passport application service on 16 May, 2006. But three weeks later, IPS found the new system was stopping staff turning around passport...
[July 12, 2006, 16:40]
£31m poured into ID cards scheme
News The £30.9m NIS-incurred expenditure was short of the initial budget of £55m, according to the Home Office Identity and Passport Service (IPS) Annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2007.
[July 31, 2007, 7:50]
ID cards fuel leap in consultancy costs
News The £147m consultancy bill is broken down into £118m for the Home Office last year and £29m across the department's other agencies, including the Identity and Passport Service. Spending on consultants within the Identity and Passport Service...
[April 14, 2008, 8:42]
ID database will retain fingerprint images
News In response to questions from GC News, the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) said the National Biometric Identity Service (NBIS), which will be built by the IPS under a £265m contract with IBM, will hold both the original images and the derived...
[May 19, 2009, 12:09]
Rupert Goodwins' Diary
Blog Figures from the Home Office released today say that 73 percent of the population are in favour of identity cards - and even if a combined ID card and passport cost £250, 63 percent think it’s a good thing and would cough up.
[October 14, 2005, 18:45]
Home Office introduces a dozen ID card readers
News In October, the government said that civil servants working at the Home Office, the Identity and Passport Service and others working on the identity card scheme would be able to apply for cards from 20 October.
[November 16, 2009, 14:39]
Biometric tech gets small town trial
News A Home Office spokesman told silicon.com: "The trial is for enrolling biometric information for the Passport Service, working out the feasibility, cost and practicality of taking biometric information from a cross-section of the population.
[August 28, 2003, 9:50]
Manchester ID card registration date announced
News Home Office minister Phil Woolas enrolled for an ID card at the Identity and Passport Service office in central Manchester on Monday. People with a home or work address in Greater Manchester, which is piloting the government's ID card scheme, will...
[November 16, 2009, 14:57]
MPs praise e-passport rollout
News The Home Office must explain why citizens need an identity card as well as an e-passport, it says. MPs have said that the project management behind the introduction of the first electronic passport has been an outstanding success.
[October 11, 2007, 13:04]
LifeSize Passport: HD videoconferencing for SMEs with added Skype
Blog The demo in LifeSize's office showed off a new feature introduced in Passport — Skype integration. LifeSize, which was co-founded by Malloy back in 2003, is currently talking up its new Passport product, which aims to put 'telepresence in the palm...
[October 12, 2009, 16:27]
Government unveils cut-price ID card
News The current Home Office "best estimate" for the average unit cost of producing the combined passport and ID card package is £93, but the London School of Economics claims the unit cost will be closer to £300.
[October 14, 2005, 16:15]
IPS dismisses 14 staff for data-protection breaches
News The Identity and Passport Service has dismissed 14 people over the last three years, in the majority of cases for abusing access to the passport database. Of 16 cases where data-protection regulations were breached, all but one involved members of...
[November 3, 2008, 6:49]
Post offices to collect foreign nationals' biometrics
News The Home Office agency said it will charge an £8 fee to have their fingerprints and photograph taken at one of 17 crown post offices, while this will remain free at UK Border Agency or Identity and Passport Service Offices.
[September 25, 2009, 9:47]
ID card bill savaged by the Lords, again
News The House of Lords has dealt another blow to the government's ID cards bill by voting against making it compulsory for people to have their biometric details included on the National Identity Register (NIR) when they apply for a new passport.
[January 24, 2006, 17:00]
ID cards: Cost of scheme set-up rises 37 percent
News The consultation will also discuss whether IPS should recover all its costs through charges for products, or whether it should charge separately for registration on the National Identity Register; whether some groups, such as the elderly, should...
[May 8, 2008, 8:29]
Government starts building ID card database
News The Identity and Passport Service has persuaded certain Home Office employees to sign on the dotted line," said Herbert. Technology firm CSC has a contract to upgrade UK passport application systems. The database went live on 20 October, and it is...
[November 25, 2009, 13:34]
