RECOMMENDATIONS OF CITIZEN INFORMATION PROJECT (CIP)

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1 To: CHIEF SECRETARY From: Dennis Roberts CC: FST Gus O'Donnell, HMT Simon Brooks, HMT Julian Kelly, HMT Chris Sullivan, HMRC Len Cook, ONS Paul Allin, ONS 13 July 2005 RECOMMENDATIONS OF CITIZEN INFORMATION PROJECT (CIP) Issue 1. Handling of the final report of the CIP. The main recommendations relate to the use of the National Identity Register as a population register, and wider use of the National Insurance Number (NINO) to secure efficiencies across the public sector. Timing 2. Routine - it is in the public domain that CIP is due to report to Ministers this summer but no date has been given for a Ministerial response. Recommendations 3. The key recommendations, endorsed by an inter-departmental group of officials, are that: there is significant value to both citizens and the public sector in greater sharing of contact details (name, address, date of birth, reference numbers) in a secure way across the public sector; this should be implemented through the Government's proposed Identity Cards Scheme on the basis that the Scheme eventually becomes compulsory. The proposed new agency to run the Scheme should be responsible for developing the National Identity Register (NIR) as an adult population database. HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office should champion wider benefits that would arise through adapting public sector systems, business processes and culture to use the NIR as the definitive source of contact details in the longer term; in developing the child index to support better delivery of children's services, the DfES should also consider whether there is scope to realise further efficiency and effectiveness benefits through a child population register;

2 a number of specific, short-term arrangements for sharing contact information should be considered by the departments and agencies concerned: HMT, Cabinet Office and the OGC should monitor this; HMRC and DWP should, as a priority, agree the detailed terms of reference, time scale and resources required to complete an evaluation of the costs, legal, operational and other implications of making wider, managed use of the NINO and the associated citizen contact details held by DWP. The full CIP Report is at Annex A. 4. If you accept these recommendations, then I suggest that you should make a written statement to the House, as Paul Boateng did at the end of the first stage last autumn. A draft statement is at Annex B. You will also need to clear the report and statement with PSX (E) colleagues and some other Ministers: a draft letter is at Annex C. 5. I further recommend that following the statement to the House the report, detailed annexes and other supporting material should be made publicly available on the CIP website. Background 6. The original vision for CIP, promulgated by Patrick Carter, was that there should be a 'single source of the truth' kept up-to-date with citizen names and addresses, for use across the public sector. This is how population registers operate in an increasing number of countries. Such as system would help to deliver the commitment in the 1999 Modernising Government White Paper, that citizens should be able to inform the entire public sector of change of circumstances through a single electronic interaction. 7. CIP has explored why this remains a long-term goal. There are thousands of systems holding personal details. Some people do legitimately have more than one address, so updating needs to take account of the purpose that each address is held. Our data analysis work has confirmed that matching personal details held in existing systems would be costly. Nevertheless, many departments and public bodies are now rationalising their systems to move from service based databases to customer focussed databases; so, for example, DWP will hold information on all the benefits received by individuals rather than separate databases of the recipients of each benefit. 8. CIP identified a number of potential and feasible options to implement the vision and four were progressed in some detail. The recommendation at the end of the first stage of the study last autumn was that the CIP vision would be delivered most cost effectively through the proposed National Identity Register (NIR). PSX(E) accepted this and Paul Boateng announced the way ahead to the House in a written statement on 28 October (Annex D). That

3 announcement set the work programme for the remaining stage of the project to be: examining how the NIR could function as a population register exploring opportunities for adding value to existing database developments ahead of the NIR reaching maturity, and exploring how the arrangements could cover children as well as adults. How the NIR could function as a population register 9. Further work with the ID Cards Programme has confirmed that using the NIR as the adult population register would be the most cost-effective way forward. Card holders will be required to keep their contact details up-to-date on the NIR, and it is planned that contact details will be kept current through convenient ways of notifying, including when using the Card to verify identity. The Bill that has now been re-introduced has efficient and effective government as one of the purposes of the ID Cards scheme and will allow for the sharing of contact details. The specification for building and maintaining the NIR in a way that allows it to operate as a population register has been produced, costed and agreed with Home Office officials. And we have a list of departments committed to taking names and addresses from the NIR in future. 10. Using the NIR as a population register is estimated to produce net benefits of nearly 650m in the period to 2025 mainly through reductions in fraud, improvements to government services and reducing administration costs. Both the costs of adapting NIR to be a population register and the benefits have already been included in the proposals for ID Cards presented to Parliament. Adding value to existing database developments 11. The NIR will not become fully populated until after at least 10 years. CIP has therefore recommended some short-term actions to deliver efficiencies through specific sharing of citizen contact details, and through greater use of the NINO as a personal reference number. The specific, short-term data sharing opportunities that have been identified by CIP offer in total an estimated net saving of 390m over the 10 years starting in Each opportunity still needs to be further evaluated and barriers to sharing overcome. We recommend that departments should evaluate these opportunities and where appropriate include them in their efficiency plans. 12. One key issue that has been identified is the absence of a common personal identifier across databases. In the longer term this will be resolved by the widespread use of the ID Card number. But in the shorter term the position could be substantially eased by greater use of the National Insurance Number (NINO). The NINO is already used by a number of organisations (e.g. financial services for issuing ISAs, and DWP for checking entitlement to free TV licences). However, obtaining approval for additional uses is a time

4 consuming and uncertain outcome as DWP/HMRC apply a restrictive regime to keep within the current defined uses of the NINO. We therefore recommend that DWP and HMRC should undertake an urgent assessment of the case for opening up the use of NINO as a general purpose identifier. DWP/HMRC officials support this. Extending the arrangements to cover children as well as adults 13. The intention is to introduce ID Cards to those aged 16 or over, so that the NIR would be an adult population register. For many parts of the public sector this does not matter. However, there are a significant number of services that are delivered to people of all ages, or just to children. There are also statistical requirements to count the whole population. While the Home Office has not ruled out extending the NIR to cover young people, CIP concluded that other sources of basic contact details for all under-16 year olds should be explored. Of existing sources the DWP's child benefit system appears to be the most comprehensive and we recommend that ONS explores the use of this as a source of population statistics. CIP also noted that DfES is developing an Information Sharing Index which, when completed, will have some of the characteristics of a child population register supporting the delivery of services to children in England. We therefore recommend that DfES should consider whether there is scope to realise further efficiency and effectiveness benefits in developing the child index. Public perceptions 14. There has been relatively little press coverage of the CIP or of broader population register issues. References to CIP and population registers in ID Cards consultation documents have been pursued by the Information Commissioner (whose concerns about CIP and the NIR more widely have not changed since he wrote to Paul Boateng in 2003) and some privacy campaigners. But published articles have on the whole provided neutral or balanced coverage. It is therefore not surprising that our research shows that the public is generally unaware of the CIP proposals. When asked to express an opinion, 85% were positive or neutral to the proposal and 35% believed that a register already exists. There were some reservations, however, about sharing contact details with the private sector. Gateway Reviews 15. CIP passed through OGC Gateway 0 during the feasibility study in Further Gateways for this project were not appropriate when it became clear that the CIP recommendations would, if accepted, be taken forward through other programmes and processes. However, I did commission an independent OGC Healthcheck of the project in March. This was helpful and the points raised have all been dealt with in producing the final report.

5 Handling 16. Paul Boateng made a written statement to the House last autumn announcing the conclusions of the first stage of the project. We would recommend a similar approach on this occasion. We would propose to make the full report and annexes available on the ONS website at the same time. A draft statement is at Annex B. This will need to be cleared with PSX(E) colleagues but we would suggest this could be done in correspondence rather than at a meeting of the committee. Of colleagues who are most affected, Charles Clarke (re ID Cards), Dawn Primarolo and Stephen Timms (re changes to NINO) are members of PSX(E) but it would also seem desirable to clear with Ruth Kelly re references to the children index, Baroness Ashton re privacy and data sharing, and Alistair Darling (as SoS for Scotland) and Peter Hain (as SoS for Wales and for Northern Ireland) because this is a UK wide proposal. A draft letter is at Annex C. 17. You may also wish to consider giving Patrick Carter, the devolved authorities and the Information Commissioner advance notice of the statement. We will provide drafts at the appropriate time. Dennis Roberts Director, Registration Services

6 ANNEX B: DRAFT WRITTEN MINISTERIAL STATEMENT CITIZEN INFORMATION PROJECT The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Mr Des Browne): On October 28, 2004 (Official Report, Column 53WS), my predecessor announced that the Government had accepted a recommendation from the Citizen Information Project (CIP) about using the proposed National Identity Register (NIR) as a population register and that further exploratory work should be undertaken, including on shorter-term opportunities for efficiency savings in handling contact details (name, address, date of birth) in existing registers. This also included the possible use of personal reference numbers, as mentioned in the Government's reply (Cm 6359) to the 4th Report from the Home Affairs Committee Session HC130. The CIP team, based within the Office for National Statistics (ONS), has now reported its final conclusions and the Government has accepted its recommendations that: there is significant value to both citizens and the public sector in greater sharing of contact details (name, address, date of birth, reference numbers) in a secure way across the public sector; this should be implemented through the Government's proposed Identity Cards Scheme on the basis that the Scheme eventually becomes compulsory. The proposed new agency to run the Scheme should be responsible for developing the National Identity Register (NIR) as an adult population database. HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office should champion wider benefits that would arise through adapting public sector systems, business processes and culture to use the NIR as the definitive source of contact details in the longer term; in developing the child index to support better delivery of children's services, the Department for Education and Skills should also consider whether there is scope to realise further efficiency and effectiveness benefits through a child population register; a number of specific, short-term arrangements for sharing contact information should be considered by the departments and agencies concerned: HM Treasury, Cabinet Office and the Office for Government Commerce should monitor this; HM Revenue & Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) should, as a priority, agree the detailed terms of reference, time scale and resources required to complete an evaluation of the costs, legal, operational and other implications of making wider, managed use of the National Insurance Number and the associated citizen contact details held by DWP. The Identity Cards Bill currently before Parliament includes securing the efficient and effective provision of public services as a purpose of the National Identity Register. Any further necessary legislation to implement the CIP recommendations will be subject to consultation as appropriate. HM Treasury xx xxx 2005

7 ANNEX C: DRAFT LETTER LETTER FROM CST TO PSX(E) MEMBERS AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES Rt Hon Charles Clarke MP Home Secretary Citizen Information Project The Citizen Information Project (CIP) was set up to explore whether or not the use of a population register would improve the quality of personal contact details (name, address, date of birth, reference numbers) held by government, generate efficiency savings across government and support improved public services. My predecessor announced on 28 October last year that the Government had accepted a recommendation from the Citizen Information Project (CIP) about developing the proposed National Identity Register (NIR) as the population register. He also announced that further exploratory work would be undertaken both on this and on shorter-term opportunities for achieving benefits through sharing contact details. The CIP has now completed all its work and has reported to me. Its main recommendations are in Annex A. I welcome these recommendations and invite you to endorse them. The main recommendation from CIP remains to use the National Identity Register as an adult population register. This generates substantial net benefits (estimated at 650m by 2025) which have already been taken into account in the ID Cards business case. The other key CIP recommendation is to exploit a wide range of opportunities to achieve efficiency savings through sharing of contact data between departments and agencies. I encourage all Ministerial colleagues to take this forward in the efficiency review work and in future spending rounds and I have asked HMT spending teams and the Efficiency Team to challenge departments on this. One key inhibitor to more widespread sharing of contact data is the absence of common identifiers across databases. CIP argue that wider access to National Insurance numbers for this purpose would lead to substantial savings and recommend that DWP and HMRC should make a full assessment of the costs and benefits of such a change. I agree that this requires further evaluation and hope that Stephen Timms and Dawn Primarolo can now take this forward. The final area of CIP recommendations concerns extending the population register to cover children as well as adults. CIP suggest that DWP benefit data are probably the most comprehensive register of children at present but recommend that DfES consider whether their work to improve delivery of children's services could be developed to realise efficiency and effectiveness benefits more widely.

8 In light of these recommendations, it has not been appropriate to run this stage of the CIP through OGC Gateways. However, the project's SRO did commission an independent OGC Healthcheck of the project in March. I gather that this was helpful and the points raised have all been dealt with in producing the final report. I intend to make an announcement after Parliament returns that we have accepted the CIP recommendations, along the lines attached. The exact timing will be determined nearer the time. I should be grateful for replies by 7 September. I am copying this to all other members of PSX(E), Ruth Kelly, Baroness Catherine Ashton, Alistair Darling (Secretary of State for Scotland), Peter Hain (Secretary of State for Wales and for Northern Ireland), Sir Andrew Turnbull and Len Cook. [Attachment is Annex B of the submission]

9 ANNEX D: PREVIOUS WRITTEN MINISTERIAL STATEMENT, Official Report, 28 October 2004, Col 53WS CITIZEN INFORMATION PROJECT The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Mr Paul Boateng): On January 6 (Official Report, Column 7WS), I announced that the Registrar General for England and Wales would lead on the next stage of development work for a UK population register. This work is being conducted by a project team based within the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and is known as the Citizen Information Project (CIP). It is concerned with whether or not the use of a population register would improve the quality of basic data held by government, generate efficiency savings across government and support improved public services. I am now able to update the House on progress and on the programme of work over the rest of this stage of development. The work has confirmed the feasibility study findings that a UK population register has the potential to generate efficiency benefits and service improvements across government. The CIP team has investigated the costs and benefits of a range of potential options for delivering a population register. It has recommended that proposals for a National Identity Register (NIR), as part of the Government's proposals for ID cards, mean that if ID cards were to become compulsory then it may be more cost effective to deliver these benefits through the NIR, rather than develop a separate register. The Government has accepted this recommendation. ONS is now in the second stage of project definition and will report to Ministers by June This includes examining in more detail how the NIR could function as a population register and exploring opportunities for adding value to existing database developments that could be cost effective ahead of the NIR reaching maturity. ONS is also exploring how efficiency and analytical requirements that cover the whole population, rather than just adults, can be met. HM Treasury 28 October 2004