Identity cards

The government is being too vague about its plans to introduce identity cards, MPs have said.

Chairman of the Commons science and technology committee Phil Willis said the fact that the private sector is speaking openly about its concerns over the programme "should set alarm bells in the Home Office ringing".

The committee's report, published on Friday, said the lack of information released by the government made it "difficult to ascertain the true scope of the scheme and to fully understand how technology will be used within the scheme".

Stakeholder Response: Institution of Engineering and Technology

Dr Alf Roberts, chief executive of the IET, said: "The good news is that this report highlights the willingness of the engineering and scientific community to contribute their expertise in order to ensure that government policy is based on the best possible scientific advice."

The IET was amongst those who warned that National Identity Card System would fail unless the requirements for the project were formalised and rigorously analysed. 

Dr Roberts said there is a growing consensus about the causes of the failure of large IT-enabled projects. These include lack of clarity in the original purpose and specification by the client, suppliers failing to draw on the best software engineering and computer science knowledge, and unrealistic deadlines set to meet political imperatives. 

Particular areas of concern raised by the IET relate to the security and integrity of the biometric identifier database. This demands a high level of assurance in establishing the identity of the person giving the biometric and confidence that the stored information cannot be tampered with.  The IET believes the government must demonstrate that the database cannot be subject to improper use, and that there is the ability to immediately detect attempts to breach the security of the system and to protect it in real time.

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.

Dr Roberts said: "We strongly believe the technical challenges have yet to be fully explored."