[IP] ID cards doomed, say officials
Begin forwarded message:
From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: July 9, 2006 5:41:51 AM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: ID cards doomed, say officials
Hi Dave:
Today's (UK) Sunday Times has an explosive article based on leaked
emails, about the planned National ID Card scheme.
TONY BLAIR'S flagship identity cards scheme is set to fail and may
not be introduced for a generation, according to leaked Whitehall e-
mails from the senior officials responsible for the multi-billion-
pound project.
The problems are so serious that ministers have been forced to draw
up plans for a scaled-down "face-saving" version to meet their
pledge of phasing in the cards from 2008.
However, civil servants say there is no evidence that even this
compromise is "remotely feasible" and accuse ministers of "ignoring
reality" by pressing ahead.
One official warns of a "botched operation" that could put back the
introduction of ID cards for a generation. He added: "I conclude
that we are setting ourselves up to fail." Another admits he is
planning Home Office strategy around the possibility that the
scheme could be "canned completely".
In one e-mail the prime minister is personally blamed for the
fiasco with his proposal for a scaled-down or "early variant"
version. "It was a Mr Blair apparently who wanted the 'early
variant' card. Not my idea," writes a top Home Office civil servant.
The e-mails expose another crisis for John Reid, the home
secretary, who has already labelled his department as "not fit for
purpose" following the recent foreign prisoners scandal.
The correspondence has been leaked by a senior official close to
the Treasury. He acknowledges that the documents will infuriate
ministers because they contradict the government's public
statements on ID cards.
. . .
The e-mail correspondence last month was between Peter Smith,
acting commercial director at the Identity and Passport Service,
the Home Office agency set up to bring in the cards, and David
Foord, the ID card project director at the Office of Government
Commerce, which is responsible for vetting the project to ensure
that the Treasury gets value for taxpayers' money.
They reveal that the government is "rethinking" the entire scheme
with an alternative "face-saving" compromise, which Smith blames on
Blair. This "early variant" plan appears to involve collecting and
storing biometric data on a temporary ID register but makes no
mention of actually using it on cards.
However, officials doubt that this will work. Foord writes: "Just
because ministers say do something does not mean we ignore reality
- which is what seems to have happened on ID cards until [the
contracts were due] to be issued and then reality could not be
ignored any longer."
He adds: "Even if everything went perfectly (which it will not) it
is very debatable (given performance of government IT projects)
whether whatever [the register] turns out to be (and that is a
worry in itself) can be procured, delivered, tested and rolled out
in just over two years and whether the resources exist within
government and industry to run two overlapping procurements. . . .
Last night the Home Office said it remained committed to an ID card
scheme but had always maintained its introduction would be an
"incremental" process.
Full story at:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2262437,00.html
Cheers
Brian
--
School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell@xxxxxxxxx PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/
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