To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 18 June 2007, Official Report, column 1512W, on the National Identity Register, how she plans to ensure that registrants do not register fictional or inadequate addresses. (147772)

It is intended that the National Identity Scheme will make use of the postcode address file as a method of address validation. However, it will not be the only source of validation and section 9 of the Identity Cards Act 2006 will enable checks to be made against records held on other databases to ensure that the address at which the individual is genuinely resident is recorded. Section 28 of the Act makes it a criminal offence to provide false information to the register, with a maximum term of imprisonment of two years available on conviction on indictment.