BB FANS

SKY
Updated: 20:48, Sunday March 05, 2006

The first British biometric e-passports will be issued to applicants this week, the Home Office has announced.

The new passports have added security features including a chip holding the carrier's facial details.

They will be introduced gradually throughout 2006 and will be issued to all applicants by the end of August.

The electronic chip will contain information such as the distances between the holder's eyes, nose, mouth and ears.

It will be taken from the applicant's passport photo and can be used to identify them.

The new document will also feature pages with intricate designs and new complex watermarks.

Home Office minister Andy Burnham said: "Biometric technology makes use of the unique features we all have.

"There is no doubt that the use of biometric information to link a person to a passport will enhance security.

"In step with our European partners we will also be considering the inclusion of fingerprints as well as facial data."

Over 40 countries throughout the world are in the process of introducing e-passports.

Countries like the UK which are part of the US visa waiver scheme must start issuing them by October.

Telegraph
(Filed: 06/03/2006)

The House of Lords has inflicted another defeat on the Government by again voting against the introduction of compulsory identity cards.

Peers voted by 277 to 166, a majority of 61, to ensure that the planned introduction of ID cards would guarantee they remained voluntary.

Conservative and Liberal Democrat members of the Lords are worried about provisions in the Identity Card Bill concerning passports.

The Bill will make the issue of new passports conditional on applicants consenting to the inclusion of their fingerprints and other biometric information on the proposed National Identity Register.

The Peers say this will result in the introduction of compulsory ID cards by stealth, and goes against the Government's manifesto pledge on the scheme.

It is the second time Lords have voted to overturn this aspect of the Bill. Their amendments were rejected by the Commons in February.

Liberal Democrat spokesman Lord Phillips of Sudbury, urging the House to once again reject Commons amendments, said it was a thoroughly "ill thought out measure".

He said if the legislation was just about ID cards, many peers would have few, if any misgivings.

"And if it is voluntary the same goes. But what we have here is a Bill that is compulsory, will require 40 million plus citizens to be interviewed for the purposes of taking out an ID card."