Digital ID build will not be outsourced to private firm, says minister

The Secretary General of the Prime Ministry said that the creation of the Government’s digital identity will be done in-house and will not be outsourced to a private company.

Darren Jones said “responsibility for the design, construction and execution” of the scheme would be “within Government”.

This comes at a time of concerns about Palantir’s role in key government services; critics have opposed a deal for the American tech giant to provide a data platform for the NHS and a three-year, £421 million contract signed with the Ministry of Defense last year to continue providing services such as data integration, analytics and artificial intelligence platforms.

Mr Jones gave a demonstration of a “Government through App” prototype powered by digital identity at a Downing Street press conference on Tuesday.

He said: “The big question people ask is, who’s going to build it? The answer is, we’re going to build it.”

“This system is part of the sovereign technology capability and responsibility for its design, construction and operation will lie within the government, with support from the State Digital Service.

“It will not be transferred to a private company.

“Digital identity-related data will always be stored in accordance with standard government practice, just as your passport or national insurance data is stored today.

“There will also not be one new central database at the center of government with all this information, it will stay where it is. For example, data on your entitlement to benefits will remain with the Department for Work and Pensions. Your driving data will remain with the DVLA (Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency), while your tax data will remain with HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs).”

Mr Jones had initially signaled far-reaching ambitions to make digital ID a “cornerstone of the modern state”, making it mandatory for right-to-work checks.

But after the recommendations fell in popularity, they appeared to be watered down and made voluntary.

Mr Jones said digital ID would “be the front door to accessing public services” and reduce costs for taxpayers.

Pointing to current inefficiencies, he said the DVLA currently processes 45,000 letters every day, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs uses 500 different paper forms and HMRC makes more than 100,000 phone calls a day.

“Improving this efficiency will be critical to making public services more affordable for taxpayers in the long term,” he said, noting that this could lead to future tax cuts as it saves “tens of billions of pounds” currently spent on “inefficient call centres, lots of paper shuffling, slow processes”.

The minister said the NHS app and health data would remain separate from the scheme because it was already “working reasonably well” and its development could be slowed down through harmonization, and that “people rightly want their health data to be treated differently to ‘paying tax disco for their car’ data in general”.

According to Mr Jones, all other Government services that involve “face-to-face interaction with the customer” can be included in the digital identity application.

Additions such as childcare, pension notifications and HMRC data are a “prize for the next parliament”, Mr Jones said, adding that any new services on the app would likely require approval from Parliament.

He told reporters: “We will introduce a bill later this year, but I expect to put in place a mechanism that means the Government and any future government will have to go back to Parliament for checks and balances and approval for any service that comes into effect in the future.”

As part of efforts to go “beyond” the usual process amid skepticism about the plan from Labor and the wider public, an eight-week consultation has been launched to hear public views and will be followed by a “public panel” of 100-120 Britons.

The government aims to make digital ID available to people over the age of 16, but is seeking advice on lowering the minimum age to 13 or removing this limit so even babies can have it.

Mr Jones suggested the scheme could lead to future tax cuts as it saves “tens of billions of pounds”, but he could not say how much it would cost to roll out as he faced questions about the scheme at a press conference on Tuesday.

“Tens of billions of pounds a year are currently going into very inefficient call centres, lots of paper shuffling, slow processes,” he said.

“If we can automate this and make it more digital, you either free up taxpayers’ money to spend it on other priorities, like frontline work in the NHS, or frankly we give that money back to taxpayers for years to come, because we’ve made public services cheaper.”

Mr Jones insisted the rollout would start with users providing very limited data, but insisted more information could be passed on optionally later.

The consultation warns that the national digital identity will be targeted by “fraudsters, fraudsters and misinformation campaigns” and says “we know that it is important to anticipate and mitigate risks to ensure the success and integrity of the digital identity system.”

Officials are understood to hope to start making progress this year, with the app running by the end of parliament.