Report shows ID Card scheme should be scrapped

3.40.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 14th Mar 2008

no2id logo - the anti-identity card (id card) and national identity database campaign

MPs are criticising the "lax standards" of government departments in protecting personal information. A report, from the Joint Committee on Human Rights, comes as details, released through the Freedom of Information Act, have revealed how many of those departments lack basic systems to comply with the Data Protection Act. A survey of 14 departments by the British Computer Society, published today, revealed that none of them had statistics of how many errors were on their database, nor had a budget to correct them.

Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Chris Huhne said "The British public have shown themselves to be rightly sceptical of the unnecessary and illiberal ID cards scheme. Recent catastrophes involving personal data clearly demonstrate the inability of the Government to handle sensitive information. The ID card scheme should be scrapped immediately, and the money used to put 10,000 extra police officers on our streets."