Digital ID

Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top Excerpts

Tuesday 14th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab)]

My Lords, I chair the Digital Inclusion Action Committee. I do that not because I am a digital expert like the two Front-Bench people opposite and my noble friend, but because I know and have worked throughout my life on social exclusion. I know that we can do this. If either of the two Front-Benchers opposite, or anyone else, wants to come with me to a hub, I would love to take them to see it. The hub is doing this now with people who never thought they would get near it but now have digital devices that we organised for them, free. They learn to use them properly and are properly supported. Next week is Digital Inclusion Action Week and I hope that some Members will take care of that.

The reality is that, for many people who are socially excluded, the Government’s proposals will make a huge difference. If you are homeless, you frequently cannot get into a hostel because they cannot work out who you are. You cannot get benefits because you have no means—you have not got an address, so you cannot get the benefit. You cannot get a bank account. We are working with the banks to change that. We are working not just with the excluded but with the industry, with the not-for-profit organisations involved and with local government. There is enormous enthusiasm for this. I have met people whose lives have been changed. They want to know that they have the Government on their side and do not have to rely on everything else that is produced in America. We do not have any security of digital ID. We are all using iPads and iPhones now and they are controlled in America by people such as Elon Musk, who could not care less about your well-being and what happens to you. Let us make this secure, so that people here can have confidence that their digital ID is protected and they do not have to rely on people outside who do not care about them.

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for that powerful and informed statement. I am sure that my noble friend’s offer for people to come and visit will be taken up, and I certainly would like to accept that offer myself at some point.