Super ID Database Blow

Tuesday March 3rd 2015

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie MSP has said that the SNP’s super ID database case has been dealt a devastating blow by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), as their submission to the Scottish Government’s consultation was revealed.

In a series of damning criticisms, the ICO warned:

• That proposals to use postcode information to populate the database “would be a shift away from the current consensual model” of data collection
• That the new proposals might not meet the necessity test required by UK and EU data protection laws
• That Privacy Impact Assessments are needed to demonstrate the costs and benefits of each of the proposals
• Warned against “the creeping use of such unique identifiers” such as the proposed UCRN, which could become the national identity number “by default”
• “If we are to have a national identity number this should be the subject of proper debate and be accompanied by suitable safeguards. It should not just happen by default.”

The warnings come ahead of Scottish Liberal Democrat moves to force a vote on controversial plans during a debate on Wednesday in Holyrood.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said:

“The SNP’s super ID database proposals have been dealt a devastating blow by the independent ICO. Their damning submission to the Scottish Government’s consultation backs our calls for work to be undertaken immediately to assess the full risks of proposals to expand access to 120 public bodies and to create a unique reference number for each person.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats will make clear in our debate this week that such significant proposals warrant full scrutiny by Parliament through primary legislation. It would be nothing short of an insult to generations of civil liberties campaigners if we allowed ourselves to sleepwalk towards a national identity number.”

The full submission from the ICO can be read online at HERE

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