Retailers and industry groups have applauded Home Office plans for consultations on the introduction of a national identity card, which could be carried as proof of age. If six months consultation results in approval for an ID card, a Bill could be laid before Parliament in 2003, become law by 2004, and implemented by 2006. The smartchip "entitlement card", as the government has called it, could supersede the current plethora of ID schemes, and carry data that included a photograph of the bearer, fingerprints, home address, nationality, date of birth and National Insurance and NHS details. They would be available to every UK citizen. But costs of implementation may still prove prohibitive, as it could mean processing cards for a population of 60 million. In March 2001 proposals for an ID card from a government select committee were dismissed on cost grounds, as card-holder verification technology would have to be installed at all service delivery points ­ every post office, surgery, hospital, local authority and school in the UK. Association of Convenience Stores public affairs and communications manager James Lowman said: "These proposals will stand or fall on cost. Implementation would be massively expensive, but for the first time there would be a payback for the government, in terms of money saved through benefit fraud prevention. Prevention of terrorism is another driver." Andrew Chevis is chief executive of proof of age scheme CitizenCard, which has more than 300,000 card holders. He said: "We are hugely supportive of plans for a national ID card, only a government issued card will be universal. "We will do everything we can to bring the card to life, and hope CitizenCard can be involved with implementation. "We finally seem to be arriving at the solution we all wanted years ago. "It will be a big political battle but it is a trade-off where the benefits far outweigh the negatives." {{NEWS }}

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