Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risks of over-reliance on dominant cloud services providers, as identified in the Competition and Markets Authority's cloud services market investigation; and what steps they are taking to mitigate those risks.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government has not carried out an assessment of the risks of over-reliance on dominant cloud service providers in the market. The Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) cloud services market investigation examined the state of competition in the market. The CMA is independent of Government and any decisions on initiating strategic market status investigations are for the CMA Board.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the recommendations of the cloud services market investigation, published on 5 October 2023, what steps they are taking to ensure the initiation of strategic market status investigations for Amazon Web Services and Microsoft.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

In July 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published its final report on the UK cloud market. The key recommendation was for the CMA Board to prioritise commencing investigations under the digital markets regime and to consider designating the two largest providers —Microsoft and AWS — with strategic market status in relation to cloud services. The CMA is independent of Government and any decisions on initiating strategic market status investigations are for the CMA Board.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking for procurement to diversify their cloud services providers.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government recognises its dependence on a small number of key suppliers for cloud services. As set out in the Blueprint for Modern Digital Government, we are addressing this by establishing the Digital Commercial Centre of Excellence to strengthen digital procurement capability and improve supplier management. This includes working with Government Commercial Agency on the National Digital Exchange which is intended to make it easier for public sector organisations to access services from new cloud service providers, including SMEs. Together with the Procurement Act 2023, this will help ensure competition, innovation and resilience in government cloud services.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to diversify their cloud service providers following the outages of those services in October.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government recognises the importance of resilience in cloud services. Following the outages in October, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology worked with affected providers and the Government Cyber Coordination Centre to assess impacts and strengthen contingency planning. Alongside this, the forthcoming Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will improve resilience standards. In February 2025, DSIT published guidance supporting multi-region cloud adoption to help departments improve resilience. I also refer the Noble Lord to the answer given on 4 November 2025 to Question HL11169.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the Competition and Markets Authority delivers the outcomes recommended in the cloud services market investigation.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is an independent competition authority, and decisions on implementing the recommendations from the cloud services market investigation rest with its Board. The Government has provided the CMA with bespoke powers to remedy competition problems in digital markets.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the accuracy of Home Office travel data used in determining immigration status; whether this has involved 24,000 families having their child benefit stopped; whether any failures in accurate determinations would breach the principles of accuracy, fairness and transparency set out in the UK General Data Protection Regulation; and whether they plan to cease the use of Home Office data in assessing immigration status.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC do not use Home Office international travel data to determine immigration status. HMRC uses the data as a starting point for identifying potential unreported absences from the UK. Undetected changes to an individual’s residency status are a leading cause of Child Benefit error and fraud.

HMRC’s Chief Executive wrote to the Treasury Select Committee on 14 November 2025 about this matter including the corrective action that HMRC is taking. This letter was subsequently published by the Committee on 18 November 2025.

It was understood from the outset and made clear by the Home Office that its international travel data could not be used in isolation to determine Child Benefit entitlement, therefore requiring HMRC to conduct its own checks and enquires with recipients to establish eligibility. The same data was used during a pilot in 2024 which allowed HMRC to focus their enquiries on less than 2% of recipients while preventing £17m in incorrect payments. This led to the expansion of the measure and investment in an additional 180 counter-fraud staff, announced at the Budget in 2024 and is expected to save around £350 million over the next five years.

When using international travel data complemented by a check of UK employment using the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system, HMRC will no longer suspend payments at the outset of its enquiries. Instead, recipients will be given at least one month to evidence their entitlement. HMRC will continue to iterate the process where its monitoring and learning suggests that it should make further changes.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to use powers under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 to extend consent requirement exemptions under regulation 6 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 for low-risk uses of pseudonymised data.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) require online advertisers to seek consent to place cookies (and similar technologies) on users’ devices. But certain uses of cookies are a lower risk to privacy than others, and privacy enhancing techniques such as pseudonymisation can further reduce risk. As part of the Data (Use and Access) Bill this government introduced reforms to PECR that enabled more than £17m annually in compliance savings. The government is working with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), industry, and others to assess whether new exemptions under PECR could be used to promote growth and innovation in the advertising, creative, and publishing industries while maintaining high privacy standards for users.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the UK's data protection framework supports the long-term viability of advertising-funded creative and editorial content.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) require online advertisers to seek consent to place cookies (and similar technologies) on users’ devices. But certain uses of cookies are a lower risk to privacy than others, and privacy enhancing techniques such as pseudonymisation can further reduce risk. As part of the Data (Use and Access) Bill this government introduced reforms to PECR that enabled more than £17m annually in compliance savings. The government is working with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), industry, and others to assess whether new exemptions under PECR could be used to promote growth and innovation in the advertising, creative, and publishing industries while maintaining high privacy standards for users.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the impact of restrictions on the use of pseudonymised data for personalised advertising on the financial sustainability of UK publishers.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) require online advertisers to seek consent to place cookies (and similar technologies) on users’ devices. But certain uses of cookies are a lower risk to privacy than others, and privacy enhancing techniques such as pseudonymisation can further reduce risk. As part of the Data (Use and Access) Bill this government introduced reforms to PECR that enabled more than £17m annually in compliance savings. The government is working with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), industry, and others to assess whether new exemptions under PECR could be used to promote growth and innovation in the advertising, creative, and publishing industries while maintaining high privacy standards for users.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential economic impact of the Information Commissioner's Office's proposed regulatory approach to online advertising on the publishing sector.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

This Government recognises the importance of supporting the growth of the UK’s publishing sector - one of our most successful and long-standing creative industries.

We welcome the Information Commisisoner’s Office’s (ICO) work in this area. The ICO are currently examining whether additional exceptions to the cookies consent requirements in the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 could be made to support online advertising while maintaining users’ privacy standards. We will be considering the ICO’s recommendations, and their potential impact, carefully in due course.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Information Commissioner's Office's approach to regulation of online advertising on economic growth in creative industries.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

This Government recognises the importance of supporting the growth of the UK’s publishing sector - one of our most successful and long-standing creative industries.

We welcome the Information Commisisoner’s Office’s (ICO) work in this area. The ICO are currently examining whether additional exceptions to the cookies consent requirements in the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 could be made to support online advertising while maintaining users’ privacy standards. We will be considering the ICO’s recommendations, and their potential impact, carefully in due course.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to allowing the use of pseudonymised data for personalised advertising, provided that data sharing is limited to processors, retained only for necessary periods, and subject to robust privacy safeguards.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

As noted in the answer to HL12548, HL12549, HL12551, the Government is currently exploring options for additional exemptions to the cookie consent rules in the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. It will consider the Information Commisisoner’s Office’s recommendations in this area carefully in due course.

Officials have met with the Professional Publishers Association and other trade associations to discuss how this work could support online advertisers, whilst preserving high standards of privacy for web users. The government will undertake further engagement with relevant stakeholders to consider the impact and design of any new proposals before deciding how to proceed.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to meet the Professional Publishers Association to discuss the impact of the Information Commissioner's Office's proposed regulatory approach to online advertising on the publishing sector.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

As noted in the answer to HL12548, HL12549, HL12551, the Government is currently exploring options for additional exemptions to the cookie consent rules in the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. It will consider the Information Commisisoner’s Office’s recommendations in this area carefully in due course.

Officials have met with the Professional Publishers Association and other trade associations to discuss how this work could support online advertisers, whilst preserving high standards of privacy for web users. The government will undertake further engagement with relevant stakeholders to consider the impact and design of any new proposals before deciding how to proceed.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that data protection regulation supports innovation and competitiveness in the UK's digital publishing and advertising markets.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

As noted in the answer to HL12548, HL12549, HL12551, the Government is currently exploring options for additional exemptions to the cookie consent rules in the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. It will consider the Information Commisisoner’s Office’s recommendations in this area carefully in due course.

Officials have met with the Professional Publishers Association and other trade associations to discuss how this work could support online advertisers, whilst preserving high standards of privacy for web users. The government will undertake further engagement with relevant stakeholders to consider the impact and design of any new proposals before deciding how to proceed.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have asked the Information Commissioner's Office to assess the relative economic and privacy impacts of (1) contextual, and (2) personalised, advertising models.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

As noted in the answer to HL12548, HL12549, HL12551, the Government is currently exploring options for additional exemptions to the cookie consent rules in the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. It will consider the Information Commisisoner’s Office’s recommendations in this area carefully in due course.

Officials have met with the Professional Publishers Association and other trade associations to discuss how this work could support online advertisers, whilst preserving high standards of privacy for web users. The government will undertake further engagement with relevant stakeholders to consider the impact and design of any new proposals before deciding how to proceed.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish draft regulations under the powers granted in section 6A of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 to set out new exemptions to the prohibition on storing or accessing information in terminal equipment under section 6(1); and what is the extent of the involvement of the Information Commissioner's Office in drafting those regulations.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The government is actively considering what exceptions could be made to regulation 6, and we shall update the House in due course.

Any regulations would be developed and drafted by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) will publish recommendations for the government on this issue. The Government will consult the ICO and other interested stakeholders on the development of any regulations, as we are legally required to by the provisions in section 112(3) of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Information Commissioner's Office about the evidential basis for commercially viable models of contextual advertising that do not require user consent.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Throughout the project looking into new exemptions to regulation 6 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (described in previous answers HL12548), we have we regularly meet with the ICO to discuss the evidence they are gathering. This includes evidence from technical experts and industry representatives.

The ICO will make recommendations to the government next year about this matter and we will consider those recommendations and the evidence supporting them.

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