
"The aim is for the ID cards to be rolled out before the next election and initially used to prove people's right to work, before being expanded to store health and benefits data to streamline access to public services and tackle fraud. Ministers have told MPs there is a firm commitment to build the digital ID within the public sector and not contract it out to private companies."
"MPs who met ministers and officials on Tuesday were told it would be a federated system akin to one built for the NHS which means that data is distributed across multiple independent but connecting systems. It would make it harder in theory to hack the entire dataset because there is no single point of failure though it would not be immune."
"About 50 MPs attended the session with the technology minister Ian Murray and Cabinet office minister Josh Simons. The main thing everyone in the room wanted to know was the cost, one MP said. And no one can even give us a ballpark. Some close to the process said ministers were aware of the political risk of the scheme, estimating that about 50 MPs could rebel if a vote were held now, and that the number could double once details are ironed out."
Ministers are engaging sceptical Labour MPs to build support for a national digital ID and solicit ideas for public service improvements. The plan targets rollout before the next election, initially for right-to-work checks, with later expansion to hold health and benefits data to streamline access and reduce fraud. Ministers insist the system will be built within the public sector and not outsourced to private companies. MPs were told the design would be federated, distributing data across connected systems to reduce single-point-of-failure risk, but costs remain unspecified and political resistance is a major concern.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]