The Scottish Government has run a consultation to use the National Health Service (NHS) Registry database as a means to connect citizens’ data and allow online logins. The proposal has similar characteristics to the plan to introduce an Identity Database in the United Kingdom which was abandoned in 2006.

Campaigners and opposition parties have urged a rethink. The identity system itself has been evolving since 2005. Scots are assigned a “Unique Citizen Reference Number” (UCRN) at birth, which is used in the NHS Register and also for students and pensioners using “Entitlement Cards” to access reduced rate services and free bus travel. The system is supplied to councils. The proposal would extend data linking through the UCRN to most Scottish government departments.

Open Rights Group: The Scottish National ID Database – your questions answered (19.02.2015)

https://scotland.openrightsgroup.org/policy/2015/02/19/the-scottish-national-id-database-your-questions-answered/

Scottish Government must ‘step back from the brink’ on ID database plans, says privacy group (05.03.2015)

https://commonspace.scot/articles/600/scottish-government-must-step-back-from-the-brink-on-id-database-plans-says-privacy-group

Do I believe that the NHSCR database could never be abused? Not for a second (08.03.2015)

http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/columnists/do-i-believe-that-the-nhscr-database-could-never-be-abused-not-for-a-second.120085278

(Contribution by Jim Killock, EDRi-member Open Rights Group, United Kingdom)