Stakeholder Position: British Computer Society

The BCS is concerned that if HMG is to embark on this very ambitious project, that the skills, products and budgets are available to enable the project to be completed successfully. 

Our view on the current bill is that:

(a) The scope and purpose of the identity card is unclear, with a number of different stated purposes.    Unless you have a tight and fixed definition of its purpose, defined success criteria, etc it is difficult to see how such a system could be taken forward.

(b) This will undoubtedly be a large and centralised system as currently outlined in the bill, and this type of system attracts a high risk of failure.  In the case of identity cards this may be both in meeting the technical requirement and  in meeting the user acceptability aspects of the system.  We have yet to see how this might be addressed.

(c) Thinking needs to be that this is an identity process and system - the actual card is of secondary importance by comparison with the logistics of proving the citizen's identity beyond reasonable doubt.   Less attention has been paid to this area than it deserves.

(d) There needs to be more attention paid to how such a card might be used by other central and local government systems charged with delivering the services to which the card might operate as an entitlement card.

One might also question whether the technology to build such a system exists today in a robust and usable form.

The BCS is also supportive of the work done by the LSE in this area.

For further details please contact Claire Davenport. Tel: 01793 417646

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