ID Cards "Opaque and Muddled"

The Commons Science and Technology Committee has reported on the progress of the Home Office's ID Card scheme and expressed "disappointment" with its lack of transparency. It identifies confusion among suppliers, limited consultation and a lack of confidence in the "wider community". It complains of an "inconsistent approach" to scientific evidence, and says choices regarding biometric technology have been made before trials have even started. The Committee is "sceptical about the validity of costs produced at this stage", and notes the danger of cost ceilings driving the choice of technology.

It would be a damning report on a modest project, let alone one that will – if it goes ahead – affect the lives and pockets of every person in the country for decades. The Committee's full conclusions and recommendations are available here, the main index here.

The report confirms that critical technical decisions have been made far too quickly for political reasons by ministers who don't understand the issues and can't be bothered to listen to proper independent advice from people who do. As long ago as January 2004 the prestigious Institution of Engineering and Technology (then The Institution of Electrical Engineers) warned the Home Affairs Committee:

The UK government’s National Identity Card Scheme will fail unless the requirements for the project are formalised and rigorously analysed, the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has again warned. Describing the project as "high risk", the IET said that this was not the consequence of the individual technologies to be employed, but from combining them in ways that are "unproven and on such a large scale".

The MPs on the Science and Technology Committee are not lawyers or career politicians; they have previous or parallel careers that are technical, financial and academic, and we can be reasonably sure they're somewhat in touch with real life. They are:

Phil Willis (Lib Dem), Chairman	Teacher
Adam Afriyie (Con)	IT Entrepreneur and Businessman
Robert Flello (Lab)	Taxation and Finance Accountant
Jim Devine (Lab)
Dr Evan Harris (Lib Dem)	Doctor
Dr Brian Iddon (Lab)	Professor, Organic Chemist
Margaret Moran (Lab)	Director, Housing Association
Brooks Newmark (Con)	Corporate Financier
Anne Snelgrove (Lab/Co-op)	Teacher, LEA Adviser
Bob Spink (Con)	Electronics Engineer
Dr Desmond Turner (Lab)	Research Chemist, Lecturer

One area in which the S&T Committee report falls short (but perhaps they ran out of paper for their criticisms) is on presentation of the alleged benefits of the scheme to the people who will have to endure and pay for it, normally known as 'hard working families'. They do say that "the Home Office has attempted to communicate with the public", and has allegedly produced a roadshow, leaflets and a DVD – though if they have they didn't tell me. The Committee says in passing that "there is a lack of clarity regarding... the scenarios when the card might be used".

Unbelievably, Blair insisted this week that this fiasco would be 'a central plank' of Labour's next election manifesto – forgetting, perhaps, that he will not be top dog at that time (at least, that's what he said earlier...)