NO2ID

If you held a previous passport that had your photograph on it which is a biometric, as is your signature on any cheque and you will have had an entry on an IPS database with your old passport. Your data is also almost certainly held in the DWP CIS database which is planned to be one of the databases that contributes to the NIR.

Whether or not the IPS plans to migrate data over from existing IPS systems associated with the passport to the NIR is difficult to know. The plans have already changed once with the move away from a monolithic database and there has been no detailed information on how the NIR will be implemented.

And if you hold a drivers license a degree of detailed information will be held by DVLA including photo, if you hold a photo drivers license. There's also the vehicle licensing and tax database(s), if you operate and tax a car ..... the NHS ...... Inland Revenue ...... Tax Credits ....... Poll (Council) Tax .... Libraries ..... GP ..... Hospitals ...... Dentists ........ but none really very connected ..... supermarket loyalty cards .... banks .... credit card companies ...... the list is long, their reach can, at least prospectively, be longer.

One wouldn't want to be put of, of course, but the challenge in either interfacing these with each other, or migrating, is of orders of magnitude vastly higher than anything that has been attempted before - even if the idea of a monolithic database has been dropped. It can be done, no doubt, given enough time, resources, and a clear specification ..... and that is not a trivial matter in its own right.

Good point Zorrodp. I expect we will see a number of crashes of goverment databases when the try this interfacing. They are bound to have a crap spec and doubtles a few 'undocumented' changes to the existing systems will crop up to confuse things further.

This is exactly what I came to the site looking for today. If it exists, I didn't manage to find it. I still have no idea whether (to avoid NIR inclusion) I should get a passport as quickly as possible, or avoid getting one until after the Tories get elected and scrap the legislation (assuming that happens).

As quickly as possible would be my advice. Since (1) we do not know when the system will start to collate more information and it can be altered for passports by prerogative, and (2) getting a passport serves to starve the system of you later, then you do more to frustrate the scheme that way than by waiting for aid that may never come.

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No, I don't think you will be asked any bio-metric details.
Just 2 x ID photo plus an old, unexpired passport is all you need (though the operator will tell you to bring two other forms of IDs eg Driving licence, utility bills, bank account statements etc.)

I renewed my old passport in late September and I did not provide any bio-metric details though the new passport has something like a chip or something!
But I WAS asked "WHY do you want to renew it... the passport still has x years left on it"! Which I nailed it down with a nice answer! lool.

Finally, to be on the safe side, it's still good idea to take these additional forms of IDs (bills, statements etc) which is what I did - though I was never asked to produce them. Perhaps their brain was too busy asking me 'why renew it'. Hence they forgot to ask me the additional forms of IDs! Perhaps they were not needed at all?

Have a look at:

The Governance of Britain – Constitutional Renewal

http://www.justice.gov.uk/docs/constitutional-renewal-white-paper.pdf



My understanding is that they cannot assign new powers to the Royal Prerogative. As such passports would have to be put on a statutory basis before new uses are assigned to them.

Anyone care to comment?

New "Royal Prerogative" powers cannot be created: the concept is that the prerogative powers are the rag bag of powers which are left to the Crown (ie government) after years of erosion by Parliament. So yes, anything new in relation to passports would have to be done by legislation or by statutory instrument under some act which enables this.