Melanie Onn
Main Page: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)Department Debates - View all Melanie Onn's debates with the Cabinet Office
(1 day, 9 hours ago)
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Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)
Thank you, Sir Edward. I will not take up much time.
Over 6,500 of my constituents signed the petition. Clearly, there is a great deal of angst and concern around the proposals, and it is imperative that the Minister address the concerns that have been laid out. While I welcome initiatives to stop illegal working and workforce exploitation, I share some of those legitimate concerns, particularly around the cost of roll-out, the necessity of the legislation, and data security. However, I recognise that we are living in a digital age in which we all give up our personal data to corporations, both domestic and international, with barely a second thought, and without knowing what those who sit behind the corporations will do with our data or likeness.
Can the Minister please offer reassurances that any proposal would present value for money? The total cost of rolling out a national system would be significant, and it is right that we understand how this compares with strengthening the forms of identification that we already have, because they are plentiful.
Melanie Onn
I will not give way—I am sorry.
There is also real interest in how personal data would be protected. Trust is very fragile when it comes to digital systems, so can the Minister give clarity that any digital ID would come with the strongest safeguards, transparent oversight and guarantees that data cannot be misused or accessed without consent?