Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Government will bring forward proposals to introduce self-financing photo identity cards on a voluntary basis to establish citizenship status.

I refer my Rt. Hon. Friend to the answer given to him by the then Minister for Immigration, my Hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean (Mr Mark Harper), on 28 January 2014, Official Report, columns 480-481W. This Government has no plans to introduce an identity card system for British Citizens. The Biometric Residence Permit is issued to non-EEA nationals staying in the UK for more than six months. These provide evidence of the holders’ immigration status in the UK.