The government has pledged its full backing for a national ID card scheme, which may encourage more organisations to adopt biometric technology. It also detailed plans to establish a new policing agency that could help to reduce online threats.

The Queen's speech proposed that ID cards should start being issued along with new passports within the next four years, and that there should be a full roll-out by 2012. Each card will contain an individual's biometric information, such as a facial, iris or fingerprint scan.

Mark Blowers, senior research director of analyst firm Butler Group, said the mass roll-out of cards would make people more familiar with biometric technology and could encourage more companies to use such systems. "We recommend that firms move to more secure methods than password authentication," he added. "If the government is pushing biometrics the economies of scale will grow, the technology will get cheaper and adoption will become more widespread."

The Queen's speech also detailed proposals for a Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), an all-encompassing policing body similar to the FBI in the US.

Soca is due to begin work in 2006, and will replace the National Crime Squad, the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) and investigation teams within Customs and Excise and the Immigration Service. It will include the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit as one of its member law enforcement agencies.

Soca will have a focus on organised crime, which is growing rapidly online, according to reports. It will need to get to grips with technology issues and gain IT expertise to succeed in this area.

Malcolm Hutty, regulation officer with ISP body the London Internet Exchange, believes that efforts to combat high-tech crime have been hampered in the past because police have lagged behind criminals in technical expertise and resources. He added that he hoped the announcement of Soca would lead to substantial new resources being invested to fight e-crime.

Peter Dorrington, head of fraud solutions at software firm SAS, said an analytical system that could make sense of data from separate enforcement bodies would be key to Soca's success. "In the UK, we have the law enforcement agencies and the powers," he said. "But without the ability to analyse, Soca would be pointless."