Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 24 May 2019 to Question 255697, what the timescale is for considering whether the standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation could be used to amend the mandatory licensing condition on age verification.

Home Office officials have now considered the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards.

Those standards relate to identity documents such as passports and national identity cards that contain a biometric chip. We are aware that a digital ID is being proposed for use in verifying age during the purchase of alcohol which takes the form of a mobile phone app. It does not incorporate a biometric chip into the mobile device. Therefore, the ICAO standards are not applicable for this purpose.