Coming next... an even bigger database
Rachel Sylvester
Tuesday 27 November, 2007
The Daily Telegraph
... Most dangerous of all, the Prime Minister's plans are under threat, too. It is not just ID cards that will be jeopardised by the loss of 25 million people's bank details. What has not so far been noticed is that Mr Brown's entire strategy for improving the public services is based on the Government getting more power over personal data.
One of the first things the Prime Minister did on arriving at Number 10 was to appoint Sir David Varney as his "adviser on public service transformation". Based at the Cabinet Office, the former O2 boss is the hidden power behind the throne. One Cabinet minister told me recently that the Varney recommendations for streamlining the delivery of health, education and welfare would be far more effective than the introduction of more market-based reforms.
Ironically, Sir David was the previous head of HM Revenue and Customs who resigned eight months ago over billions of pounds worth of fraud and errors in the tax credit system. That is a side issue. More relevant are his proposals for the public services, which involve radically altering the relationship between the citizen and the state.
Sir David's aim, set out in a report he wrote for Mr Brown at the end of last year, is to create a giant centralised government database containing information about everybody in the country. It would establish what he calls a "single source of truth" about each individual - "made more robust through the introduction of identity cards" - which could be accessed by any department that wanted to verify who somebody was. It could also be used to target services more efficiently at individuals.
The plan is central to the Prime Minister's stated intention of creating a more personalised system. "A joined-up identity management regime is the foundation of service transformation," Sir David writes. "It is important that the advantages of sharing identity information - making life easier for the citizen and helping Government give individuals a personalised service - are robustly communicated." He even speculates that there could be some "standardisation" between systems in the public and private sectors.
The thinking is entirely logical - it is, Sir David argues, ludicrous that somebody has to contact 44 bits of the state when a relative dies. Members of the iPod generation want to be able to download public services at their own convenience, just as they personalise their music collection. And if Tesco can send special offers to particular customers, using the information gained through its Clubcard, then the Government should also be able offer relevant services to its citizens.
It will, however, be far more difficult to persuade the voters that the state can be trusted to create a "single source of truth" about them when it has just left so many people potentially open to identity fraud.
The parents whose information has been lost may not be happy to hear that their medical history, benefits statements, education details, criminal record, tax information and driving licence facts could all potentially be accessed through a central computer.
Sir David admits that there are "particular challenges around ownership of information" in his proposals for reform. After last week's events, that could turn out to be the understatement of the century.
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