We are still waiting for the Information Tribunal to rule in our favour again, to order the disclosure of the early OGC Gateway Reviews of the Home Office's Identity Cards Programme, over 4 years since we requested them.
The legal cost so far, of over £120,000 is an utter waste of public money.
Identity Cards: Civil Proceedings
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer of 14 July 2008, Official Report, column 145W, on identity cards, what stage the legal case relating to disclosure of Gateway information has reached; how much the Government have spent to date on legal costs for the case; and if she will place in the Library a copy of the Identity Card Gateway Review, redacting commercially sensitive information. [250192]
N.B. it is very unlikely that there is any "commercially sensitive information" in the pre-Stage Zero and Stage Zero Gateway Reviews, which happen well before any actual commercial procurement starts i.e. well before any invitations to tender or any quotations from potential suppliers has even been asked for, and which are reviewed at Gateway Review Stage 2 and later.
What is missing from these Gateway Reviews is at least as interesting (probably an utter lack of appreciation of the technical security and privacy risks, or any idea about the costs of integration with other Government Departmental and Private Sector computer systems) as what they actually might contain.
Angela Eagle: I have been asked to reply.I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 12 January 2009, Official Report, columns 508-09W. The tribunal has still not issued its decision.
The legal cost incurred, relating to the disclosure of Gateway information on the Identity Cards programme, is currently £121,000 excluding VAT.
Gateway reports, including the findings and status, are conducted on a confidential basis for senior responsible owners (SRO). We do not, therefore, make this information routinely public.
This cost does not include the time of all of the Information Commissioner,'s Office, Home Office, Department for Constitutional Affairs (now the Ministry of Justice) Office for Government Commerce, HM Treasury, Information Tribunal etc. officials who have been involved in this case.
Note the weasel words at the end of the reply, since it would be illegal for the Government to rule out all such disclosures, even though, that is what in fact has happened in every case so far.
The previous Written Answer details the long drawn out current Information Tribunal process:
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