Recommendation 2

The track record of digital transformation in government is poor, and we are sceptical that digital ID will be any different. The rushed nature of the government’s initial announcement of digital ID, subsequent changes of policy, and the complacency about government capacity for implementation, suggest that the government has not learnt the lessons from previous failures, particularly the risk of optimism bias and poorly defined objectives. The government’s more limited plans for digital ID in this Parliament now look more realistic, but it has not yet demonstrated a credible roadmap for implementation. (Conclusion, Paragraph 19)