Identity card scheme to cost £5.4bn

The Home Office's first six-monthly costing report says 15 per cent of the money will be spent on technology

The national biometric identity card scheme will cost £5.4bn, according to the latest estimates issued by the Home Office.

Fifteen per cent of the sum will be spent on the technology for the programme, and around 70 per cent will go to the biometric passport initiative which is being used a prelude to the main ID scheme.

The figures were released today in the first of the six-monthly costings reports the Home Office is committed to publishing under the ID cards legislation passed in March.

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