http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/29/blear_confirms_nhs_biometrics/
John Lettice
"Although the Home Office has been chanting the ?3.1 billion mantra as the cost of the ID scheme, the reality, as confirmed by David Blunkett in his evidence to the Home Affairs Committee, is that the total will be greatly in excess of this, and that individual departments will be forced to foot the bill, which nevertheless is unlikely to figure in whatever it is the Home Office ultimately claims it paid. In this case the biometric reading systems the GPs won't want will be paid for from the NHS budget, as part of the electronic medical record system currently being developed."
