Almost half of the respondents to the Home Office consultation on ID cards were opposed to the scheme.

According to the report on published by the government today 48 per cent of the 766 respondents were not in favour, compared with 31 per cent in favour, 13 per cent neutral and eight per cent supportive in principle but with reservations.

The consultation was launched with the publication of the draft ID cards bill in April and invited responses from both individuals and organisations.

Following the consultation, and the recommendations of the Commons' home affairs committee, the government has simplified the proposed scheme and scrapped plans for a national database being developed by the Office of National Statistics' Citizen Information Project (CIP) in parallel with the Home Office's national identity register (NIR) for ID cards.

The original aim was to bring in identity cards as part of the existing passport and driving licence infrastructures, so only the small number of citizens with neither of those documents would have a separate ID card. The consultation responses suggested this was too complicated and the government has agreed to a simpler scheme of individual ID cards for all.

In its response to the Home Affairs committee, the government acknowledged the need to avoid the creation of parallel databases, in line with Computing's Data Debate campaign.

'The government accepts the need to avoid a proliferation of registers and recognises that improving both access to, and efficiency of, public services are important features of the CIP and the ID cards programme,' says the response.

'In light of the developments of the NIR, CIP is no longer actively exploring plans to develop a separate population register but rater will be exploring options to improve the quality and effectiveness of existing registers, including the possible use of personal reference numbers,' it says.

Negative issues raised by respondents to the Home Office consultation included security and privacy concerns, 'function creep' and fears over the weakness of the technology. The majority of those against the scheme objected to the principle of having to own an ID card, often supported by the view that the scheme would not work.

Supportive responses emphasised the scheme would help fight crime, make it easier to access services and help prevent illegal immigration.

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