Speeches by Tapp.

“It is about the power of digital in checking whether something is real. This chap looked at a passport and was not trained, like our border staff are, in working out whether that was real. Post technological design and consultation, I imagine that that would be more effective.”

“No, we have not said that this will not work at all, and we fully support the idea of digital ID, particularly when it comes to immigration enforcement, for a number of reasons. First, I can give you an experience of mine out on the ground with immigration enforcement. We visited a car wash, and I spoke to one of the o…”

“It will certainly help with targeting. It will not be the only answer—obviously, there is a lot of intelligence stream—but it will help prioritise where we visit.”

“My understanding is that there will also be community groups engaged. I don’t know whether anyone else can add anything.”

“Absolutely. This is vital. My apologies that I cannot go into full detail yet, pre-consultation, but it is certainly a consideration for us, as it was within the Home Office when it came to e-visas. We spent considerable sums of money on going out to community support groups, for example. There are positive lessons tha…”

“Absolutely. The Home Office has had involvement at official level and ministerial level from the first meeting to the last. There have been regular ministerial meetings on this, where we have discussed the pros and cons.”

“It is important that, along with ensuring that those who are not currently actively digitally, that goes for employers as well. We will learn from the consultation and ensure that we put in the right support. I cannot give you the details on what that looks like at this moment, because we need to go through the consult…”

“The aim is by the end of this Parliament. That is the commitment that has been made.”

“Working with the Cabinet Office, we are certainly taking a prominent role in ensuring that we get that absolutely right post consultation and what we learn from it.”

“It is our responsibility, so yes.”

“There are many considerations. The point with problem solving is that Ministers and officials need time to discuss, work through and wargame, and then come to the correct conclusions. That is exactly what we have done and what was expected of Government.”

“Mike Tapp, Immigration Minister at the Home Office.”

“Yes.”

“Absolutely—the Home Office support that a digital ID will need to be used for right to work checks.”

“It was a concern that was raised in meetings, and now we have come to a conclusion that suits everybody—all Departments—including the Home Office. It will be positive for the country when we get this into place.”

“No.”

“That is a good question. There are already fantastic platforms, as you have seen with your passport very recently. The main area will be immigration enforcement for the Home Office and combating illegal working.”

“These were concerns that were part of the conversations that were had, and have fed into—”

“All this depends on the audit store and the decisions made on that, which will not be made until after the consultation, but there is great potential there.”

“It is difficult to quantify the exact impact in numbers, but we can say that this will absolutely streamline the process and make it easier for employers to check. Fraud will not accidentally be let through, and it will be much more difficult for those who are seeking to present a dodgy passport to actually do so. I ca…”