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ID cards status to be made public
Gov must open up, says Information Tribunal...

By Tim Ferguson

Published: Friday 04 May 2007

The status of the national ID cards programme will be made available to the public following a ruling by the Information Tribunal.

The ruling, made yesterday, supports the decision of the information commissioner, Richard Thomas, to make the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) publish details of its Gateway Reviews of the ID cards project.

Thomas said the ruling is likely to enhance public debate of issues surrounding the programme's feasibility and management.

Gateway Reviews were introduced in 2000 by the OGC to track the progress of government IT projects using a traffic-light system of red, amber or green to indicate their status.

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The tribunal found the "safe space" the OGC wanted when making initial policy could not be justified, while the "grave consequences" of disclosing the information was overstated.

The issue emerged following a request from Liberal Democrat MP Mark Oaten to be informed of the traffic light status of the ID cards scheme. But the chief secretary of the Treasury, Paul Boateng, said the information was exempt from the Freedom of Information Act and would not be disclosed.

Oaten then lodged a complaint with the information commissioner which was upheld. The OGC appealed the original decision because, it argued, disclosing the information would undermine the review process.

It said that those involved in the process would be less frank if the review was public, while it could also delay the process and deter commercial organisations from being involved.

The tribunal ordered the information to be disclosed once the issue about identifying those involved in the reviews is resolved. The OGC has 14 days to state whether the names of those involved in the process should be made public, before disclosing the information.