The establishment of a population register

Revised answer         1 2 4 0 /5(3045)

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE CHIEF MINISTER BY DEPUTY G.P. SOUTHERN OF ST. HELIER

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY, 24th OCTOBER 2006 Question

Would the Chief Minister inform members –

( a ) what progress, if any, has been made to date in the establishment of a population register?

( b ) w h e ther or not the future scheme will involve some form of identity card and, if so, would he advise

members whether the data will be made secure and, if so, at what cost?

( c ) what information, if any, will be attached to any unique identifier' produced by the register? ( d ) which departments are actively engaged in working to produce the register?

( e ) what level of liaison, if any, has there been with the Data Protection Registrar?

( f)  what timescale is envisaged for law drafting and bringing this project to the States?

( g ) w h e ther the current proposed timetable is realistic in light of progress made to date? Answer

1. The Migration Advisory Group recently considered proposals for a population register'. Theseproposals followed meetings with Information Services (formerly ComputerServices),as well as the Data Protection Commissioner. Theseproposals are now beingshaped into drafting instructions following consideration by the Migration Advisory Group, with a view to bringing the draft law to the Assemblyin the second quarter of 2007.
2. R egistration  for  the  purposes  of the population  register' will  be combined with  Social  Security registration to provide a simple, one stop shop to customers, and to reduce administration. It has been concluded  by  the  Migration Advisory  Group  that  it would be sensible  for  the  combined registration documentorcardto incorporate a methodof establishing identity, as registration will governaccessto employment and housing, and potentially a range of otherpublicservices.

I n formation will be maintained on a secure database, and will be subject to the full range of States security

procedures. Security measures have already been developed as part of the States information network, and they are applied as a matter of course in new data systems. The costs associated with their implementation in this case are therefore considered to be marginal.

3. No information will be maintained on the population register' other than name, date of birth, address, and possibly employer details. A uniquepersonal reference will enable a person to be linked to their place of residence, and possibly, employment.Allother information will continue to bemaintainedondepartmental systems.
4. The PopulationOffice is working with officers from Information Serviceswho are responsiblefor partnering a rangeofdepartments.Thesedepartments include SocialSecurity,EconomicDevelopment, and Health and Social Services. Other departments will become involved as the workprogresses.
5. The Data Protection Commissioner has been liaised with,and consulted, ateachstage in the developmentof

proposals.

6. As previously notified to the States, a Law will bebrought to the Assemblyinthesecond quarter of 2007, with implementation of the corporate databasein the second quarter of 2008.
7. The complexity of a project of this nature should not beunderestimated,and indeed, the timescales are ambitious. Goodprogresscontinues to bemadehowever,on the law drafting instructions andonproposals for thesystem's architecture. Accordingly, timescales are considered achievable basedonwork to date.