The Information Commissioner is forcing the release of a report on the effect of national identity cards on the benefits system.
In 2004 Mark Oaten, then Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, requested a copy of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) feasibility study considering the impact, cost and benefits for its business of the biometric ID scheme proposed by the Home Office.
DWP refused on the basis that publication of the report would inhibit candid and rigorous policy development, compromise the ability to ensure value for money, and skew the Home Office's procurement process.
But Information Commissioner Richard Thomas has rejected the department's reasoning on the basis that there is a strong public interest in potential benefits of ID cards to DWP and other government departments.
'This will facilitate informed public debate of the ID card issue,' says the Commission's decision notice.
'The Commissioner has examined the requested information and can see no information that would put the work of the DWP or any other government department at risk.
'Release of the information is likely to result in the Home Office obtaining better, rather than worse, value for public money, because suppliers will be able to tailor their systems to the needs of major identity card-users such as the DWP,' says the notice.
The DWP now has 30 days to produce the information or initiate an appeal.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg said: 'With the cost of ID cards likely to run to billions of pounds, the public has the right to know whether they will be value for money.
'Hopefully this decision will lead to a belated revelation of the costs and impacts of this massive scheme,' he said.
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