NO2ID

When I enrolled in my current high school, we were given Young Scot cards. I'm unsure as to whether or not this was mandatory as at the time I thought my local council a committee of incompetents, doubted that a discount card from them would be anything but a sponsored discount card, and allowed my parents to sign me up.

Over the last year, I've become progressively more suspicious of the British and Scottish govts on a level that I had previously reserved for communist states, some corporations, and America. I've been able to locate information regarding what is stored on temporary cards, but what is stored on a permanent (expires in twelve years) card?

Hi

The Young Scot card is, like the 'pensioner bus pass', a National Entitlement Card (NEC). And as the Scottish Government has always insisted, it is entirely voluntary - apart that is from the free bus travel entitlement for pensioners and the disabled. See, for example, my Freedom of Information enquiry here.

and the statement from the relevant Minister (Tom McCabe) in 2005 that I quote:

"I can confirm that the [NEC] card is voluntary and no-one would be denied access to the services that they are entitled to should they decline the offer of a card.".


I have no information about what precisely is stored on an NEC card. However, as usual, the key concern is what lies beyond the card and is stored in linked state databases, rather than just the piece of plastic itself.

Crucially, when you obtain an NEC card you are given a unique national identifier, the Unique Citizen Reference Number (UCRN). This is the basic building block for a National Identity Register - precisely the kind of database that the Westminster government has urgently been demolishing during the past week. See:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/government-computing-network/2011/feb/10/minister-destroys-national-identity-register

I have always refused to accept an NEC card precisely to avoid going onto a Scottish NIR. I provide more details here.

=== re: the statement from the relevant Minister (Tom McCabe) in 2005 that: "I can confirm that the [NEC] card is voluntary and no-one would be denied access to the services that they are entitled to should they decline the offer of a card." ===

Are you suggesting that one can disassociate entitlement from the plastic card? For example, how else can a pensioner prove entitlement for free bus travel except with the relevant plastic card?

Yes, the rule is that nobody must be denied access to their entitlements because they refuse the offer of an entitlement card. Thus, Scottish councils which use entitlement cards for library access must also provide an alternative form of access card. Likewise for schools and for pupils' access to school meals.

However, there is one single notable exception to the rule and - as you observe- this concerns the free pensioner bus entitlement. For this a pensioner can use only the entitlement card. I have never heard any justification given for this coercive anomaly.

... which is just the sales blurb from the Young Scot Card website.

The truth is that the Scottish National Entitlement Card is in reality a National Identity Card, so intrusive that it would not be permitted as an ID card in Germany and other countries which use ID cards. For more details go here.

Does anybody know if domestic airlines accept National Entitlement Cards as travel documents?