The government said that the national identity card scheme would cost £5.4 billion, including all set-up and operational costs, over the period 2006-2016. Researchers said that the report failed to disclose much information that would aid understanding of the process, and did little to increase public confidence in the scheme.
Source: Identity Cards Act 2006: First Section 37 Report to Parliament about the Likely Costs of the ID Cards Scheme, Home Office (0870 000 1585) | , Analysis of Home Office Costs Report of October 2006, Department of Information Systems/London School of Economics (020 7955 7060)
Links: Report | Home Office press release | Conservative Party press release | IPPR press release | BBC report | Times report | Guardian report | LSE report | LSE press release
Date: 2006-Oct
The government responded to a report by a joint committee of MPs and peers on counter-terrorism policy and human rights. It said that it welcomed the emphasis placed by the committee on the government s responsibility to prevent terrorist attacks.
Source: Government Reply to the Twenty-Fourth Report from the Joint Committee on Human Rights: 'Counter-Terrorism Policy and Human Rights', Cm 6920, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Date: 2006-Oct
A report by a joint committee of MPs and peers said that there was an increasingly urgent need to devise new mechanisms of independent accountability and oversight of the security and intelligence agencies, and of government claims based on intelligence information.
Source: Counter-Terrorism Policy and Human Rights: Prosecution and pre-charge detention, Twenty-fourth Report (Session 2005-06), HC 1576 and HL 240, Joint Committee on Human Rights (House of Lords and House of Commons) Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Aug
A report by a committee of MPs said that government plans to introduce identity cards were 'inconsistent' and 'lacking clarity'. It expressed scepticism about the estimated costs of the scheme, and said that there was public confusion about identity cards because of lack of information.
Source: Identity Card Technologies: Scientific advice, risk and evidence, Sixth Report (Session 2005-06), HC 1032, House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Information Commissioner press release | LSE press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Aug
The government announced a 24-point package of criminal justice reforms, including the provision of a further 8,000 prison places and longer sentences for the most serious criminals. It cancelled plans to introduce a 'custody plus' sentence which would have allowed 60,000 less serious offenders each year to leave after a short spell of imprisonment. It proposed abandoning the regime under which judges automatically halved the sentence tariffs for dangerous offenders on new indeterminate or unlimited sentences. An automatic one-third sentence discount for those who entered an early guilty plea would also be scrapped. But the government said that it would not seek to amend the Human Rights Act.
Source: Rebalancing the Criminal Justice System in Favour of the Law-abiding Majority: Cutting crime, reducing reoffending and protecting the public, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Report | Home Office press release | Parole Board press release | Howard League press release | ACPO press release | YMCA press release | Guardian report | BBC report | Times report | FT report
Date: 2006-Jul
Campaigners said that DNA samples retained by the police were being used for controversial genetic studies without the consent of the people involved.
Source: Using the Police National DNA Database: Under adequate control?, GeneWatch UK (01298 871898)
Links: Briefing | GeneWatch press release | Observer report
Date: 2006-Jul
The data protection watchdog called for prison sentences of up to two years for the illegal buying and selling of personal information.
Source: What Price Privacy? The unlawful trade in confidential personal information, Information Commissioner, HC 1056, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | BBC report
Date: 2006-May
The Prime Minister asked the Home Secretary to examine whether primary legislation was needed to "address the issue" of court rulings which overruled government decisions by reference to human rights legislation. He also called for a "profound rebalancing" of the debate on civil liberties.
Source: Tony Blair MP (Prime Minister), Letter 15 May 2006 to John Reid MP (Home Secretary)
Links: Letter | PMOS briefing | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3)
Date: 2006-May
Campaigners said that there was a "dangerous imbalance" between the draconian actions the United Kingdom was taking in the name of security and its obligation to protect human rights.
Source: United Kingdom - Human Rights: A Broken Promise, Amnesty International UK (020 7814 6241)
Links: Report | Amnesty press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Feb
A report criticized the government and the police for misleading the public about the benefits of retaining DNA samples from large numbers of innocent people.
Source: The DNA Expansion Programme: Reporting real achievement?, GeneWatch UK (01298 871898)
Links: Report | GeneWatch press release
Date: 2006-Feb
A new book examined the relationship between the Human Rights Act, human rights principles, and the common law.
Source: Tom Hickman, Public Law after the Human Rights Act, Hart Publishing
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Jan