Identity and Passport Service

Identity and Passport Service
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 52
Release: 2007-10-10
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 9780215036292

This report examines how lessons learnt from the introduction of ePassports will be incorporated into future projects; the cost of authenticating applicants' identities; passport fee trends; the measures being taken by the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) to hold down passport fees; and working with others to reduce costs and improve border security. An ePassport contains an electronic chip storing biographical data and a digital facial image of the passport holder. From 2009 new second generation ePassports will incorporate the fingerprints of the passport holder. Passport fees have risen ahead of inflation since September 2003 to fund ePassport technology and other projects intended to improve the security of the UK passport. From 2009 all passport applicants will have to attend in person to provide fingerprints for inclusion in second generation ePassports. The set-up cost of data collection, validation and storage necessary to introduce these changes will be substantial. During 2007 IPS has been introducing personal interviews at its 69 new interviewing offices for first time adult passport applicants. At least one of the 69 offices is intended to be within an hour's travel by public or private transport for 95% of the UK population (except in remote locations). But elderly and disabled people may still face difficulties in making the journey. With the introduction of second generation ePassports, all applicants will need to attend a local office to give their fingerprints. The long term durability of the chip embedded in the ePassport book is unproven.

Identity and Passport Service

Identity and Passport Service
Author: Great Britain. National Audit Office
Publisher: Stationery Office Books (TSO)
Total Pages: 42
Release: 2007-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780102944365

This report examines the Identity and Passport Service's project to introduce ePassports. An ePassport contains an electronic chip and antenna, to store and transmit to an electronic reader the passport holder's digital photograph and biographical information. The chip also contains an electronic signature confirming the issuing country and the integrity of the data to provide extra checks at border control. The budgeted set-up costs for the project were £63 million, and marginal production costs from 2005-06 to 2010-11 are estimated to be £195 million. The Agency invoked an exemption from procurement regulations on security grounds which offered it the option of amending its existing supplier contract for digital passports to incorporate ePassport production. The Agency chose this route because of delays in evolving international standards on ePassport design and substantial compensation costs would have been payable if the existing contract were to be ended early. The Identity and Passport Service took steps to secure value for money in the amended contract terms. However, longer term risks to value for money remain due to the technical novelty of ePassports, the risk of organisational knowledge loss and potential problems using electronic readers at border control. The NAO makes several recommendations regarding managing the risk and increasing effective working between the relevant government departments.

Global Challenges for Identity Policies

Global Challenges for Identity Policies
Author: E. Whitley
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2016-01-18
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0230245374

The goals of this book are to provide a comprehensive review of identity policies as they are being implemented in various countries around the world, to consider the key arenas where identity policies are developed and to provide intellectual coherence for making sense of these various activities.