ID cards-based criminal record checks ‘are A-OK’
Gemma Simpson writes in Silicon.com:
Plans for a new service using the government’s controversial ID cards scheme to speed up criminal records checks have met with approval from volunteers involved in a trial of the tech.
The volunteers piloted two potential online services developed by the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) and the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) which could be used to authenticate the identities and information of job applicants.
At the trials all volunteers went through a simulated experience of applying for a position requiring a CRB check. The participants met a prospective employer, filled out the CRB disclosure application form and had their identity authenticated by a counter-signatory. Their criminal record information was then disclosed to the company requesting it.
…
But Phil Booth, national co-ordinator of the No2ID anti-ID card campaign, criticised the trial because he said it tested the customer experience of the CRB check in isolation, while “glossing over the inconvenience and intrusiveness of the ID system as a whole”.
Booth told silicon.com: “IPS is trying to sell a so-called benefit without any reference to actual cost or reality.”
The IPS report can be downloaded here.
October 2nd, 2007 at 19:18
We’ve seen this sort of “test” before with the passport office’s ID cards “trial” back in 2004 – they aren’t testing anything – it’s just a PR stunt. Just like back then they were not testing an actual product – just road testing the concept on volunteers.
CRB checks are unpopular with everyone who has to use them – it is a win-win situation to say that ID cards will make them more palatable. Win-win for everyone but the public.
October 3rd, 2007 at 09:32
How does this success story fit in with IPS’s strategic action plan? The promise made there was that, by the end of 2007, “joint venture work [would be] initiated with a range of other partners” (p.25). “Other partners” includes the CRB. The joint venture work has been initiated. So, they can tick that one off.
But they promised also that there would be an “IND enhanced employee checking service available for employers” (p.25). Has anyone seen any sign of that service? Which was meant to be available by June 2007, by the way, four months ago? It isn’t available, is it? Otherwise we would be knee-deep in self-congratulatory press releases.
It’s all very well IPS and the CRB congratulating themselves on their A-OKness. But IPS are actually meant to be doing some real work. That’s what they’re paid for. As it is, they seem to be so busy congratulating themselves that there isn’t any time left for the work.
Will Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP read the riot act? Will the Permanent Secretary live up to his nickname — “the assassin” — and knock a few heads together?
IPS may not be frightened of us, the public. Or of the Permanent Secretary. Or of the Home Secretary. But they had better shape up when it comes to meeting their EU commitments. Those boys levy fines. Ask DEFRA. They were fined £400m for failing to pay farmers on time. And what do fines mean? They mean no money left to mend the drains. Cue foot and mouth. They mean reduced budgets, fewer trips to the seaside for IPS.
We’re all watching your progress, IPS, with great interest, A-OK!
January 24th, 2008 at 23:25
This is just to first step toward guilt by default , i.e. guilty until proven innocent. Everyone will be forced to undergo a criminal record check and carry it on their ID card. Anyone who does not undergo a criminal record check and carry it on their ID card will be denied employment by default.
Similarly, everyone must become an organ donor by default, unless you specifically opt out. That is just a short step from everyone must be an organ donor unless a government bureaucracy gives you permission to opt out. But they will not give permission because the “need” is so great.