Digital ID Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Science, Innovation & Technology
Lewis Atkinson
Main Page: Lewis Atkinson (Labour - Sunderland Central)Department Debates - View all Lewis Atkinson's debates with the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology
(1 day, 8 hours ago)
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Josh Simons
I think I understood the hon. Member’s question, so let me have a crack at answering it. I will address the second part of her question first. The constituents who email her, who will find this scheme useful, are asking for more joined-up public services. They are asking not to have to fight the Government to get things that they are entitled to, which is what this scheme will deliver. On the first part of her question, there is a distinction between digitising the right-to-work checks so that we can toughen up illegal labour market enforcement, which is what the Prime Minister underscored yesterday, and the digital ID, which will be free and voluntary for anyone who wants it.
Lewis Atkinson (Sunderland Central) (Lab)
As someone who supports modernising and digitising the state, but who spoke against mandatory digital ID, I welcome the Minister’s sensible approach and his engagement over recent months. My constituents are really concerned about illegal working. Does he agree that the current and largely paper-based system of right-to-work checks is totally unfit for purpose and open to fraud, and will he outline how this scheme will help crack down on illegal working in a way that the Conservative party totally failed to do over 14 years in power?
Josh Simons
I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend, who has been a powerful advocate on this issue. The purposes of the scheme are twofold. First, digitising right-to-work checks will help us toughen up illegal labour market enforcement, making it easier for businesses to check people’s right to work and for individuals to prove their right to work. Secondly, this is about the future of digital government; it is about making our Government work better for ordinary people, and the digital ID scheme is a foundational piece of infrastructure that will help us do that in the decades ahead. The Labour party has a long history of building public goods and public infrastructure, and I am proud that we are doing that for the future.