Straight To The Point

This is Charles Clarke statement regarding the proposed new ID cards. Lets go through it and see if we can find any facts.

"It will be affordable to set a charge of £30 at current prices for a standalone ID card which is valid for 10 years. This will be affordable within current Home Office spending plans."

This is affordable? To the Government? And there I was thinking they had run out of money. But is it affordable to the people who will actually have to pay this £30? No idea.

"This figure has been arrived at following careful scrutiny of the costs of the ID cards scheme over the summer by the Home Office, in full consultation with Treasury and other Government departments.

Thats okay then. We can trust them.

"We are unable to release the precise costs for individual aspects of the scheme because this information is commercially sensitive and could affect the Department's ability to secure value for money from the market. However, independent analysis in a report from KPMG, a summary of which will be published shortly, has concluded that the costing methodology is robust and appropriate for this stage of development.

So they can't tell us how they came about the figure of £30 (does the Government ever tell us how it came about its decisions?), but luckily the methodology is robust. Thats like saying your Excel spreadsheet hasn't crashed, but you can't account for what you've actually typed into it.

"We are also developing plans to roll the scheme out faster using registration with the criminal records bureau as well as passport application to enrol people into the ID cards scheme. This would lead to faster issuing of the card and improved outcomes and budget savings for the criminal records bureau.

Well, including the words "budget savings" makes good PR. But is it only reducing the amount they will have to pay for the card in the firstplace?

"We remain confident that further significant savings to Government and the private sector will be identified as plans are developed. In particular, Tony McNulty MP now chairs a cross-Departmental Ministerial committee to identify transformational benefits and efficiencies which the ID cards scheme can deliver to other Government departments.

This means: hopefully we will be able to save some money, but there's no guarantees.

"Our current best estimate of the average unit cost of the combined passport and ID card package is £93; around 70 per cent of these costs would be incurred anyway because of the worldwide move to biometric passports. We expect that most people will still choose to get their ID card alongside their new biometric passport as this will be the most convenient way to participate in the scheme and will give people the full benefits of having the most secure travel documentation.

So because we're being forced to have biometric passports, we might as well have the ID cards by default?

"I am also publishing today a research report 'Identity Cards: an assessment of awareness and demand for the Identity Cards Scheme' which demonstrates strong public support for the scheme."

Various other sources cite that this supposed "public support" is based mainly on the question "once you're forced to have the ID card (and since you need a passport if you want to go anywhere mate) do you mind having to pay only £30 for it?"

So all in all, we still don't know how much it will cost us, or whether the public actually want it anyway.