Third report: Home Office accounting

Despite the scale and significance of the proposed Identity Card Scheme, the government has revealed little detail about the likely costs and benefits. This report makes use of Home Office reports and statements in Parliament by Ministers to reconstruct the accounting of the scheme over the years of deployment ... we found that the Home Office accounts will have an estimated £1.81 billion cumulative deficit by 2018 for the combined passport-ID scheme. The Home Secretary has referred to such deficits as 'a small contribution from public funds, which is the only amount that could be spent on other things'.