We are currently in Committee Stage of the Financial Services and Markets Bill in the House of Lords – examining this important legislation clause by clause, line by line, debating the principles, highlighting concerns and suggesting changes. Today (21st March 2023) I introduced four amendments. The first would require the Government to publish plans for a scalable, flexible, and inclusive distributed digital ID including a public awareness campaign.
“Amendment 218 is about one of the most significant things we could do to transform financial services in the United Kingdom, whether we are talking about fraud, whether we are talking about operational efficiency. Whatever measure, whatever element of financial services we are considering to have a form of digital ID would transform the current situation.”
Introducing my amendment, video below:
Full text of amendment 218:
Insert the following new Clause—
“Digital identification
(1) Within six months of the passing of this Act, the Secretary of State must publish the Government’s plans for the development and deployment of a distributed digital identification (“Digital ID”) for individuals and corporate entities in the financial sector.
(2) The digital IDs should be—
(a) scalable, (b) flexible, and (c) inclusive.
(3) The Secretary of State must also undertake a public engagement campaign around Digital IDs to raise awareness and participation in the process with regard to the financial sector.
(4) In this section— “digital ID” means a set of attributes related to an entity, as according to the International Organization for Standardization and International Electrotechnical Commission framework 24760-1; “flexible” means capable of resilience and workable as technologies develop and evolve; “inclusive” means capable of including all entities and individuals, not least, in respect of their protected characteristics as set out in the Equality Act 2010; “scalable” means capable of national deployment.”
I have been pushing for greater urgency on this issue for some time and put forward several amendments to the previous Financial Services Bill including one similar to the one I tabled today. That proposed amendment would also have required the Secretary of State, within six months of the passage of the bill to publish the government’s plans for the development and deployment of a distributed digital identification for individuals and corporate entities in the financial services sector.
Since that earlier Financial Services Bill the Government has made some progress on digital ID, having published a response to the digital identity and attributes consultation. The attributes trust framework and One Login for Government (a single account for citizens to login, prove their identity and access all central HMG services) work are ongoing and reportedly being designed with privacy, security and inclusion at their centre. Additionally, since April last year landlords, letting agents, and employers have been able to use certified new technology to digitally carry out right to work and right to rent checks. This has allowed people to verify their identity remotely, and more conveniently prove their eligibility to work or rent. The same technological process is also being enabled for Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) pre-employment checks. The Government has also announced an interim governance function within DCMS, the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA) be established.
I welcome this progress and am not surprised that respondents to the Government consultation supported a proposal to affirm the legal validity of digital forms of identification in legislation. Future legislation must establish a robust accreditation and certification and it is positive that testing of the latest version of the trust framework are proceeding. The twelve guiding principles of self-sovereign identity [SSI] help to explain how a distributed digital ID could work in all our interests; secure, decentralised, transparent, embedding equity and inclusion and protecting our privacy. A practical, functional solution. And in terms of effective operation, just one word: interoperability. Worth restating though, as it is so critical to success: interoperability, interoperability, interoperability.
The requirement for a public engagement campaign around digital IDs is key to raising awareness, reassuring those with concerns about privacy and encourage participation in the process. Why should any of us feel anything other than antipathy and scepticism if something is put forward which we have had nothing to do with, heard anything about or been able to influence, interrogate or even see close up? I call for, and would welcome, a public debate, engaging, enquiring, critiquing.
Just as our personal data, through an effectively delivered digital ID would have our ID in our hands, so it is with the opportunity itself. Distributed digital ID, it’s not an inevitability. Thankfully, at last, it’s currently somewhat more than just a distant dream and we must all be part of this: the discussion, the journey, the design, and the deployment.
Digital ID – Lord Holmes of Richmond MBE (lordchrisholmes.com)