Home / Inquiries / Bichard Inquiry / R24
← R23 R25 →
R24

Photograph requirement for identity documents

Bichard Inquiry · The Bichard Inquiry Report · Issued 22 June 2004 · Addressed to: Home Office

Government responseHome Office: Accepted (Dec 2004)

DeliveryHome Office says completed (Nov 2005)

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

There should be an expectation that documents produced to confirm identity should, wherever possible, include a photograph.

Bichard Inquiry, The Bichard Inquiry Report · 22 Jun 2004 Source PDF →

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

The Home Office stated in November 2005 that the recommendation was "implemented and mainstreamed" (Home Office, Nov 2005). In its December 2004 progress report, the department noted that guidance issued to Registered Bodies had undergone a complete review to improve content and usability, with revised text advocating that identity documents should include a photograph wherever possible (Home Office response, Dec 2004).

Sources

Home Office, Nov 2005

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026.

About this summary
This recommendation asks for cultural or behavioural change, which is difficult to verify from published sources alone. The record above reflects policy commitments rather than measured outcomes.

Report-level response context

The Government accepted all 31 recommendations collectively: the Home Secretary's written statement of 11 January 2005 records that "All 31 recommendations were accepted by the Government when the Inquiry reported in June 2004". No document states an acceptance decision for any single recommendation. The response shown against each recommendation is the Home Office's answer to it in the first progress report, sent to Sir Michael Bichard on 22 December 2004 and placed in the Library of the House on 11 January 2005. The Government then reported against the recommendations three more times, in November 2005, May 2006 and May 2007; the updates shown are taken from those reports.

Government response

●Home Office · Accepted · 22 Dec 2004

Words of: Home Office, Bichard Inquiry Recommendations: Progress Report, 22 December 2004

The guidance issued to Registered Bodies has undergone a complete review to improve its content and usability. 6.52 A recommendation has been included in the revised guidance to Registered Bodies advocating that, wherever possible, identity documents should now include a photograph.

Response document: Bichard Inquiry Recommendations: Progress Report

Delivery

●Home Office says completed · 7 Nov 2005

Recommendations 24, 26, 27 and 29 are implemented and mainstreamed.

From: Bichard Inquiry Recommendations: Second Progress Report

How this page is built

The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.