Where is the 6 monthly report to Parliament about the ID Card scheme costs ?
Where is the Identity Cards Act Section 37 report into latest 10 year cost estimates for the National Identity Register / ID Card Scheme ?
This "Frank Dobson amendment" - a weak compromise which replaced the call for a fully detailed cost benefit analysis, is laid down in the Identity Cards Act 2006 Section 37 Report to Parliament about likely costs of ID cards scheme
(2) Before the end of every six months beginning with the laying of a report under this section, the Secretary of State must prepare and lay before Parliament a further report setting out his estimate of the public expenditure likely to be incurred on the ID cards scheme during the ten years beginning with the end of those six months.
The first such 6 monthly report was published last October (.pdf) - this was published late because of the Summer Recess and the decision not to have Parliament sit in Septembe.
As the Liberal Democrat Home Office Watch blog points out:
It’s a year and twenty days since the bill got royal assent (30 March), six months and 11 days since the last report. Given they are required by law to publish this report six-monthly, should we be calling the police…?
Comments
A certain Mr. Heath raised this question in Parliament today in Business Questions - Mr. Straw will follow this up and he or Mr Reid shall furnish a response (unlikely to include the report) in due course.
Are we taking bets on whether the report has in fact been delayed pending Reid's Home Office re-shambling?
Posted by: Doctor_Wibble | April 26, 2007 3:50 PM
Government response to this question is "yeah whatever, when we can be bothered".
Typos notwithstanding (not in Hansard just yet)
Vincent Cable : Can the minister explain why the ID cost report, which was due to be published a month ago, didn't appear even though the government has a legal obligation to ensure that it was published?
Joan Ryan : Well I can tell the honourable gentleman that the costs will be presented, as we are committed to do, in the cost report, to be published very shortly, and in the IPS annual accounts for 2006/2007 so he can rest assured this report will be before him very soon.
Posted by: Doctor_Wibble | April 30, 2007 4:53 PM