ID’ll be alright on the night

The Commons, 19 February 2007:

Liam Byrne (Minister of State, Home Office) Link to this | Hansard source

…

We will put in place two systems in order to underpin the national identity register. One is the DWP’s CIS [Customer Information System] index, which is a tried and tested system and operates at very high volumes. The second is the new biometric warehouse. The link between the two will establish one single record in both systems. That is the right approach because it is lower risk and will make it possible to bring the project in in a shorter time. The system will use tried and tested technology. …

The DWP has a ‘known faults‘ with CIS webpage.

Among the various faults are those that tend to occur at ‘peak times’ (between 8am and 10am).

In other words it doesn’t operate without fail at very high volumes.

Also, information is occasionally displayed in the wrong areas.

I wonder how many more faults will be introduced when the CIS ‘underpins’ the National Identity Register, and how frequently they (and old faults) will occur, for instance, when people try to look up their JobSeeker’s Allowance, apply for identity cards or passports, or when the system counts us entering or leaving the country.

I wonder if on attempting to enter or leave the country we will be asked to “try again later”.

As far as I’m aware, none of this has been publicly discussed.