To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether her Department or individual police forces will pay for (a) technology, (b) equipment and (c) training that will enable police forces access to the National Identity Register when it becomes operational; and what she expects the costs to be for each police force area. (171057)

Police forces or other organisations that will benefit from the provision of identity information from the National Identity Register would bear the cost of any equipment or training that they may require. No estimate of any such costs is available. However, as identity cards will be introduced incrementally, it is unlikely that any large investment would be needed at the beginning of the scheme and any costs associated with the provision of information would be phased in gradually as the national identity scheme itself grows.