To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he plans to issue identity cards to foreigners; and if he will make a statement. (102581)

We will start to issue biometric residence permits to foreign nationals in 2008.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the First Section 37 Report to Parliament about the Likely Cost of the Identity Cards Scheme, which Government Departments his review has identified as holding existing assets and resources which might reduce delivery and cost risks associated with the identity cards project. (102786)

In December, the Government will be publishing plans for the introduction of the National Identity Scheme which will provide more detail on the contribution which existing assets could make to the delivery of the scheme.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what contracts his Department has signed with external organisations relating to (a) the identity cards project and (b) the National Identity Register in each of the last 24 months for which information is available. (102808)

The relevant contracts signed in the period requested can be found in the following table.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have had with representatives of the high street banks concerning the identity cards project; which representatives (i) he and (ii) other Ministers have met; and what the date was of each meeting. (102814)

My right hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, South (Mr. Clarke) met representatives of high street banks on 3 April 2006 to discuss a number of matters of mutual interest including the introduction of identity cards. The banks represented were RBS Group, Lloyds TSB Group, HBOS, Abbey, Standard Chartered Bank, Barclays and the British Bankers Association.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to page nine of the First Section 37 Report to the Parliament About the Likely Costs of the ID Cards Scheme, what existing assets and resources the review identified as opportunities to reduce delivery and cost risks. (102815)

The review identified that there may be existing technical infrastructure and systems that could be used as the basis for reducing the delivery and cost risks associated with the identity card project.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it is the Government’s policy to issue an early variant identity card to UK citizens. (102816)

It is currently planned that the first identity cards for UK citizens will be issued from 2009.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he defines, “touched by identity fraud”, as used in the First Section 37 Report to Parliament About the Likely Cost of the ID Cards Scheme; and how the calculation that one in five companies could be hit by identity fraud was made in that report. (102824)

The phrase “touched by identity fraud” refers to those who have been a victim of identity fraud or know someone who has been a victim.

An economic survey amongst companies conducted in 2004 by RSM Robson Rhodes LLP showed 17 per cent. of companies reported having their identity stolen or hijacked in the past year.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department at what distance identity cards produced under ISO standard 14443A can be read. (102825)

The international standards (ISO 14443A) do not set out the distances at which cards should be readable but rather set the minimum and maximum power of the magnetic and electric field strengths required to comply with the standards. These field strengths are such that data exchange is possible at a distance between the reader and the card of a few centimetres.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who will determine whether the number of a designated document under schedule 1, paragraph 4(1) of the Identity Cards Act 2006 should be held in the National Identity Register. (102826)

Paragraph 4(1)(1) of schedule 1 of the Identity Cards Act 2006 allows the recording of the number of any designated document which does not fall within any of the preceding sub-paragraphs of that schedule. The decision on which numbers are to be recorded is for the Secretary of State.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what pieces of personal information the National Identity Register (a) is intended to store and (b) will have the capability of storing. (102827)

The information which may be recorded on the National Identity Register is set out in Section 3 and Schedule 1 of the Identity Cards Act 2006. The Register will be designed to store this information. Not every piece of information will be relevant to everyone who is enrolled on the Register.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he expects British citizens to be charged for a change to their surname as a result of marriage under the proposed National Identity Card scheme. (102851)

With regard to changes of information which require a change of card, a schedule of fees has not yet been decided and will depend on the outcome of procurement processes related to the national identity scheme.

The Government anticipate that changes to information on a person's record on the National Identity Register that would not require a change of card (e.g. address) would not incur a fee. This might apply if a person wished to add a married surname to his or her register entry as a name by which he or she is also known, but to retain his or her previous name as a principal name.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the timetable is for the publication of the schedule of fees for the National Identity Card scheme. (102852)

A schedule of fees for the National Identity Scheme cannot be finalised until contracts with suppliers connected to the operation of the scheme are signed. A precise time for this will not be available until negotiations with suppliers have commenced. However, secondary legislation must be brought before Parliament to determine a schedule of fees in advance of the launch of the National Identity Register.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his estimate is of the number of individual authorised users of the National Identity Register there will be once it is fully operational and implemented. (102854)

Only a small number of strictly vetted persons will be authorised users able to manipulate information on the National Identity Register (NIR). Their use will be subject to strict auditing with alert functionality to detect unauthorised actions and no one individual would be permitted to create or delete an entry on the NIR. Until further design work with regard to the roles and responsibilities of staff members and their respective access controls is finalised, it is not possible to provide a precise figure of staff members who will be authorised users in this manner.

Staff responsible for processing applications for enrolment and maintenance of information on the NIR will use application processing systems for their work. The work of those processing applications will also be subject to control and auditing systems in order to ensure the integrity of the system. Once appropriate security measures have been completed, information from these systems will be submitted to update NIR records. Until further design work and procurement negotiations are complete, it is not possible to give a precise figure with regard to how many staff members would conduct this work. However, as an indication, the Identity and Passport Service currently has approximately 2,100 employees whose work is primarily focused on processing passport applications.

The National Identity Scheme intends to offer an identity verification service. This service does not provide access to the NIR but does allow for individuals to verify their identity with authorised users on the basis of information recorded in the NIR.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of Government officials who will be permitted to enter data into the National Identity Register. (102875)

Only a small number of strictly vetted persons will be authorised users able to manipulate information on the National Identity Register (NIR). Their use will be subject to strict auditing with alert functionality to detect unauthorised actions and no one individual would be permitted to create or delete an entry on the NIR. Until further design work with regard to the roles and responsibilities of staff members and their respective access controls is finalised, it is not possible to provide a precise figure of staff members who will be authorised users in this manner.

Staff responsible for processing applications for enrolment and maintenance of information on the NIR will use application processing systems for their work. The work of those processing applications will also be subject to control and auditing systems in order to ensure the integrity of the system. Once appropriate security measures have been completed, information from these systems will be submitted to update NIR records. Until further design work and procurement negotiations are complete, it is not possible to give a precise figure with regard to how many staff members would conduct this work. However, as an indication, the Identity and Passport Service currently has approximately 2,100 employees whose work is primarily focussed on processing passport applications.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who will have operational responsibility for the National Identity Register. (102876)

The Identity and Passport Service will have operational responsibility for the National Identity Register.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it is the Government's policy to use a private finance initiative in the development of the National Identity Register. (102877)

The Identity and Passport Service is currently examining a number of options with regard to how it could work with the private sector to develop National Identity Register capabilities. No decision has been taken regarding whether this would involve a private finance initiative. It is the Government’s policy that final decisions regarding the involvement of the private sector will be taken on the basis of which options represent the best value for money to the taxpayer.