Detailed plans for the controversial national identity card will be published.

Home Secretary John Reid will unveil an action plan for the scheme, as well as a separate document detailing progress on boosting Britain's border controls.

The Government has said the ID cards project will cost £5.4 billion to set up and run over the next 10 years. It will force every Briton over 16 to pay for a "biometric" card which stores fingerprint and iris scan details from eyes.

Ministers have confirmed that ID cards will be "implemented rapidly", starting with biometric cards for foreign nationals in 2008.

A 13-page costings document published in October said biometric travel documents would be issued to refugees by next June, with the first identity cards for British citizens following in 2009.

The most controversial aspect of the project is the creation of a massive new computer database to hold a wide range of information on every person in the country, including their fingerprints.

Passport fees have risen 57% in a year - from £42 to £66 for a standard service - to help pay for new security measures which form the basis of the ID card's fingerprint and iris scan biometrics.

Campaigners have condemned the scheme as a "white elephant" which will severely damage people's privacy.