Quotes on 'Using your identity card' web page

The request was successful.

Dear Identity & Passport Service,

I am writing with regard to the quotations given on the 'Using your identity card' web page here:

http://www.ips.gov.uk/cps/rde/xchg/ips_l...

It is now the 4th February 2010. On 25th January 2010, the Secretary of State made The Identity Cards Act 2006 (Commencement No. 7) Order 2010 to extend the ability to apply for an ID card and entry onto the National Identity Register to people aged 16-24 who live in London. The Order clearly stated that it would come into force on 8th February 2010.

This being the case, I would like to know:

1) How were the quotations shown on the 'Using your identity card' web page as of 4th February 2010 solicited?

2) Are all the quotations from people who had already received an ID card?

3) How many of the people quoted on the web page work for IPS, the Home Office or any other government department or agency?

4) If they do (or did) not work for IPS or another government agency, how did the individuals identified as 'JW, London', 'PE, Kent', 'JP, London', 'KM, London', 'VN, Tottenham', 'CB, London', 'MM, north London' and 'JW, Kent' receive an ID card *before* 8th February 2010?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Phil Booth

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Booth,

Thank you for your email of 4 February. Please find an acknowledgement
attached.

<<13955 P Booth acknow.doc>>
Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information Team

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Booth,

Thank you for your email of 4 February. Please find a response attached.

<<13955 P Booth response.doc>>
Yours faithfully,

Freedom of Information Team

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
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Dear H Reid,

Thank you for your response of 2nd March.

You say in response to my question, "How many of the people quoted on the web page work for IPS, the Home Office or any other government department or agency?" that individuals were offered a degree of anonymity in order to protect their privacy. As a privacy campaigner, I fully respect that.

However, I am not requesting any information that would compromise the privacy or anonymity of any of the individuals quoted on your webpage. I would not wish you to do so. I am simply asking *how many* of them work for IPS, the Home Office or any other government department or agency. The answer, which cannot in any way be linked to any individual, is simply a number from zero to eight (or possibly more).

I continue to request a response to my original question (3) as your statement that "the accounts are all drawn from individuals who were eligible for a National Identity Card under the commencement orders in place by the date 4 February 2010" though clearly intended to imply that some of the quotes may be from people working at London City Airport, does not actually answer my question.

Yours sincerely,

Phil Booth

Dear Identity & Passport Service,

I have not received any response to my follow-up request of March 3rd.

I would still like to have a simple numerical answer to my original question (3) - "How many of the people quoted on the web page work for IPS, the Home Office or any other government department or agency?" - which will in no way compromise the privacy of any individual.

Yours faithfully,

Phil Booth

Dear Mr Booth,

We are very sorry that you have not yet received a reply and can confirm
that the matter is now being pursued. We will endeavour to respond
substantively as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information Team

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Alex Deane left an annotation ()

Has any response been received here?

Alex Deane
Big Brother Watch

Dear Identity & Passport Service,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Identity & Passport Service's handling of my FOI request 'Quotes on 'Using your identity card' web page'.

It is now 21st July and I have not received a substantive response to my follow-up request of March 3rd 2010.

I would still like to have a simple numerical answer to my original question (3) - "How many of the people quoted on the web page work for IPS, the Home Office or any other government department or agency?" - which would in no way compromise the privacy of any individual.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/qu...

Yours faithfully,

Phil Booth

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Booth,

Thank you for your email of 21 July. Please find a response attached.

<<13955 P Booth response.pdf>>
Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information Team

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

Alex Skene left an annotation ()

The Register article on this FOI request:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/29/...

Andrew Watson left an annotation ()

The offending web page has of course now disappeared off the IPS web site, but a snapshot is preserved for posterity by the Public Records Office here:

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.u...

Raphael Clifford left an annotation ()

It seems that there was a rolling list of people eligible to volunteer for an ID card before Feb 8, 2010. If you search for "NOTE AS TO EARLIER COMMENCEMENT ORDERS" at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2010/uksi_20... you get the codes needed to look them up.

Raphael Clifford left an annotation ()

To follow up, it would be interesting to learn under exactly which of the commencement orders each person was made eligible for an ID card and also how each person came to hear about the application process.