The A to Z of ID cards

N is for National Identity Register

The National Identity Register (NIR) is the heart of the ID card project. This database will hold personal identity information and biometric data for everyone who has enrolled in the scheme.

The government says that only a selection of civil servants will have direct access to the NIR.

The NIR will be classified as part of the nation's Critical National Infrastructure and protected with high security - but the scale of the database has led to concerns about the viability of the project.