It will be MOST interesting, possibly costly - and probably even more inconvenient - for those of us who live/work abroad or travel permanently, i.e. live-aboard yachtspeople. Will one be obliged to travel, perhaps a great distance, to the local capital/embassy/consulate? The punter will, as usual, have to foot the bill. What if one is disabled or temporarily incapacitated?

Like all present administration legislation/regulation, this has been fully thought through.
17 Feb 06

New Chief Executive For Identity And Passport Service

22 September 2006

Sir David Normington, Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, announced today that following an open competition and with the approval of the Prime Minister, James Hall has been appointed as the first Chief Executive of the Identity and Passport Service. He will take up his post on 11 October.

As Chief Executive reporting to the Permanent Secretary, James Hall will have overall responsibility for the organisation, operation and management of the Identity and Passport Service including the successful introduction of Identity Cards and the National Identity Scheme. He will play a crucial role in developing cross-Government policy on identity management and will sit on the Home Office\x92s Executive Board.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. James Hall spent his career since 1976 with Accenture and its predecessor organisations. In 1994 he was appointed as the Managing Partner for Accenture in the UK, a post he held until 2000. He then spent five years as Managing Partner with responsibility for technology and systems integration across Accenture and was a member of the Chief Executive Officer\x92s Executive Leadership Team. He was most recently responsible for Accenture\x92s \xA32bn contract as a Local Systems Provider with the NHS in England.

2. The Identity and Passport Service was established as an executive agency of the Home Office on 1 April 2006. It builds on the strong foundations of the UK Passport Service to provide passport services to the public and, as part of the National Identity Scheme established through the Identity Cards Act 2006, will be responsible for the introduction of Identity Cards. The development of the National Identity Scheme builds on the changes being made to passports to provide a secure and straightforward way to safeguard personal identities from misuse.

3. James Hall is the first Chief Executive of the Identity and Passport Service. He takes over from Alan Barnish who has been leading the Agency on an interim basis.