A High Court judge yesterday quashed decisions to make public details of two early assessments of the government's controversial ID cards scheme.

STEPHEN HOWARD

A High Court judge yesterday quashed decisions to make public details of two early assessments of the government's controversial ID cards scheme.

But Mr Justice Stanley Burnton said a different Information Tribunal should look again at the request under the Freedom of Information Act.

He said his ruling is not a judgment on whether the gateway reviews should or should not be disclosed and that would have to be determined by the tribunal.

The Office of Government Commerce (OGC), the Treasury department responsible for ensuring that taxpayers get value for money, brought the appeal which was the first time the courts had been asked to consider disclosure exemptions under the FoI.

The judge said in the ruling: "The fact that the identity card programme is controversial as a matter of principle, because of its civil rights implications, and in relation to its technical practicability and its cost, is highly relevant to this appeal.

"It is not suggested that the programme is not the legitimate subject of public interest."

The OGC had argued that failing to keep review assessments "absolutely confidential" could damage the government's gateway system, in which experts assess the costs of schemes and their "achievability".

It also said the disclosure ordered by the Information Tribunal in May 2007 could undermine the policy development relating to ID cards.

The tribunal had upheld the Information Commissioner's decision that it was in the public interest for the ID scheme assessments to be revealed.

Security consultant Mark Dziecielewski and Liberal Democrat MP for Winchester Mark Oaten made FoI requests to see details of the two reviews, held before the plans were announced to Parliament.

The reviews concerned assessments of the achievability of the ID programme, looking at the resources required, timetable and costs.

The judge said the tribunal's reasoning on disclosure "certainly lacks clarity" and is not sufficient.

He added: "The controversy concerning identity cards, and the OGC's objections to disclosure of the gateway reviews relating to the programme, may have led to speculation that they include undisclosed information that could be regarded as damaging to the programme.

"If there was a smoking gun in the reviews, the case for disclosure would, on one view, be considerably strengthened. I have read both reviews. There is, in my view, no smoking gun."