UK minister ducks cost questions on nationwide digital ID scheme

Summary

A UK tech minister has declined to put a figure on the cost of the government's digital ID plans as MPs question the contributions expected from central departments. Speaking to a House of Commons select committee this week, minister for digital government and data Ian Murray defended the government's decision not to publish budgeted costs of its plans to build digital IDs for every citizen. UK politicians to draft outage blueprint after AWS calamity READ MORE In September, the government announced plans to issue all legal residents a digital identity by August 2029, which in the first instance is set to be used to prove eligibility to work. Prime minister Keir Starmer said digital IDs were "an enormous opportunity for the UK." As well as making it tougher to work illegally, they would also "offer ordinary citizens countless benefits, like being able to prove your identity to access key services swiftly," he said. The plan is to use smartphones to store digital IDs and build on existing work to introduce a government digital wallet including driving licenses. Appearing before the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee this week, Murray said budgets for the project had yet to be determined, although the technical delivery will be managed by the Government Digital Service (GDS), within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). "In terms of the cost [it is to] be determined by what the system looks like, and that can only really be measured after the consultation has been closed and analyzed," he said. Murray said those initial costs would come from the DSIT settlement in the spending review period, although other departments will be expected to contribute as use cases are produced. "The cost of the entire system will depend on what the system looks like," he said. "Digital inclusion, all the bits that are attached to digital ID, and also the use cases from other government departments in terms of both the cost of having the system, the cost o...