7 May 2008
Two additional documents [1] published by the Home Office on the same
day as its obscure ten-year cost estimate [2] identify major problems
with the delivery of the scheme. Gung-ho statements by the Home
Secretary and other ministers conceal the official judgment that the
scheme is in chaos. This follows only a month after the final release
of the report by Sir James Crosby [3] originally commissioned by Gordon
Brown as Chancellor. Crosby offered a list of 10 fundamental principles
for a national identity scheme to conform to, all of which are already
being broken by the current scheme [4].
Now the report by the government-appointed Independent Scheme Assurance
Panel, a group comprising senior information managers from highly
successful organisations [5], reveals:
1) Almost five years after it was first mooted, the ID scheme still
lacks a "robust and transparent operational data governance regime and
clear data architecture" (3.1). The panel indicates that this should be
in place *before* procurement proceeds, but key suppliers were
shortlisted months ago;
2) Despite passing the Act and spending over £100 million of public
money, the scheme still has not received the "cross-Government
sponsorship or take-up" it requires. (3.3, Identity management within
Government) The ministerial committee dealing with this was disbanded
in early 2007 (ibid.), and it now seems that a select group of
officials in the IPS itself are driving the whole programme;
3) Though the tender process is supposedly well advanced, requirements
for ICT systems, processes and operations have still to be adequately
specified and the rationale for key design decisions is unclear (3.4,
Programme Priorities).
4) Though "the integrity of the Scheme and trust in it are essential...
it will never be free of errors" (3.7, citizen protection) and "based
on the likelihood that the Scheme will aggregate a lot of valuable
data, there is the risk that its trusted administrators will make
improper use of this data" (ibid.);
Phil Booth, NO2ID's [6] National Coordinator, said:
"No specification, no departmental buy-in, no rationale for key design
decisions – and no ministerial control. This is official confirmation
that the Identity and Passport Service is a runaway train.
"As we pointed out back in January [7], Gordon Brown should pay
attention to the detail. Ministers are rubber-stamping a
consultant-driven scheme of epic proportions."
-ENDS-
Notes for editors:
1) The 'Independent Scheme Assurance Panel Annual Report for 2007': http://www.ips.gov.uk/identity
'Report on key projects implemented in 2007': http://www.ips.gov.uk/identity
2) http://www.ips.gov.uk/identity
3) The Crosby review, 'Challenges and Opportunities in Identity Assurance':
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk
4) See analysis in NO2ID release, 7 March: "Crosby sets out 10 ID principles – Home Office scheme breaks all of them"
http://www.no2id.net/news
5) http://www.ips.gov.uk/identity
See 1.4 for the credentials of members.
6) NO2ID is the UK-wide non-partisan campaign against ID cards and the database state, and is affiliated to by the NUJ.
See http://www.no2id.net/dbstate
7) NO2ID: 'Brown "Charging ahead with ID" – but not in charge', 23/1/08
http://www.no2id.net/news
For further information, or for immediate or future interview, please
contact Phil Booth (National Co-ordinator, national.coordinator@no2id.net) on 07974 230 839,
Guy Herbert (General Secretary, general.secretary@no2id.net) on 07956 544 308, or
Michael Parker (Press Officer, press.officer@no2id.net) on 07773 376 166.
The NO2ID Campaign
Box 412
19-21 Crawford Street
London W1H 1PJ
enquiries@no2id.net
Tel: 07005 800 651
Press: click here
