ID card scheme expands early

The Home Office has now begun to require Tier 2 foreign nationals to register for ID cards when renewing their visas – three months earlier than it had originally planned.

Tier 2 includes skilled workers, ministers of religion, sportsmen and women, representatives of overseas businesses and dependants. Guy Herbert of No2ID said that the government already had plenty of information on the identity of Tier 2 immigrants and the scheme was superfluous and wasteful.

Alan Johnson has confirmed that the National Identity Register contains National Insurance numbers. This means that the register could be used to cross-reference with other government databases, including tax and benefits.
See here and here.