As of October 2009, Sir Joseph Pilling is acting as the UK’s Identity Commissioner, an ‘independent’ voice to oversee the UK National Identity Service. The Identity Commissioner’s first report that was published for public viewing last week, outlines his findings so far and plans for 2010 of which include assessing the awareness of citizens and the business community; physical integrity of the NIR; guidance for data handling / sharing and the card enrolment process.

This report comes at a time when public confidence in the UK National Identify Scheme is at a low point, after recent results from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (JRRT) show that a growing number of citizens oppose the introduction of biometric ID cards. And in a separate UK poll, the scrapping of ID was the second most popular choice, voted for by the public, in a survey of how UK government should be reformed.

More information about the current UK National Identity Scheme status can be found by following this link