To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the outstanding cost to the public purse of the introduction of the National Identity Card Scheme. (276687)

The May 2009 Cost Report details our current estimated costs for the National Identity Service at:

http://www.ips.gov.uk/identity/downloads/docA_IPS_cost_reportpercent202009_v11_BM.pdf

The estimated total resource costs for providing passports and identity cards to British and Irish citizens resident in the UK for the time period April 2009 to April 2019 is £4,945 million. This figure includes the current costs of operating the passport service, the incremental costs of improving the integrity of the passport and the costs of identity cards. It does not reflect the fee income which will be generated from both passports and identity cards to fund the operational cost of the National Identity Service.