Commentary on Sections Fees and charges Section 37: Report to Parliament about likely costs of ID Cards scheme
200.This section provides that the Secretary of State must lay before Parliament six months after the Act receiving Royal Assent (i.e. by 30th September 2006) an estimate of the likely costs of the scheme for the next ten years (subsection (1)). A further report must be laid at least every six months, each report estimating the costs for the following ten years (subsection (2)). This includes expenditure on (a) the establishment and maintenance of the Register; (b) the issue, modification, renewal, replacement, re-issue and surrender of ID cards and (c) the provision to persons by the Secretary of State of information recorded in individuals’ entries in the Register (subsection (3)). It does not include estimated costs to other Government departments of making use of the scheme. The Secretary of State may exclude from the report anything which if published would prejudice securing the best value from the use of public money.