King’s Speech (4th Day)

Lord Davies of Brixton Excerpts

Monday 22nd July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Petitgas, on his compelling maiden speech, and I congratulate my noble friend Lord Vallance on his. I welcome him to the House—it is good to have a fellow south London suburb represented. I also welcome the two Ministers to the Front Bench. I look forward to some constructive engagement in the implementation of Labour’s policies as set out in the King’s Speech.

I will pick up on the issues of mental health and pensions. First, we will have the long-overdue mental health Bill. The report on which it is based was written in 2017. I declare an interest in this context: my involvement with the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, as set out in the register. This is the key issue. The two issues of financial well-being and mental health are inextricably linked. An earlier speaker referred to the productivity puzzle, and it is clear that good mental health improves productivity: it enables people to get to work and to be more effective when they are at work.

On reading the detailed notes on the mental health Bill, I was a little concerned that they say that, although the legislation will be passed, its measures will be implemented only when resources allow. That obviously must be true, but it is important to understand that creating and improving mental health has a massive effect on productivity in the economy as a whole. Academic research has shown that it is self-funding: improve people’s mental health and the economy will produce the growth that our policies place so much reliance on. I totally agree with my noble friend Lord Layard’s comments on a similar point.

Then there is the promised pension schemes Bill. It is important to distinguish that we have a Bill coming shortly with some immediate measures to make the existing system work more effectively. I particularly welcome the proposal that the prime objective of these schemes should be to provide a pension and not be savings arrangements, and part of the Bill is going to require schemes to see that as their major role. I support most of the measures set out for the Bill but, as my noble friend Lord Chandos said earlier, the devil is in the detail, and we will have to look at them closely to see that they are producing the required objectives.

Following the pensions Bill is the pensions review, the first phase of which starts with a look at creating investment. This whole debate so far has been seen as being about a supply issue, supplying the funds that our economy needs to create the wealth. I think that it is also a use problem; we need to make sure that that money, if it is made available, is used effectively. The British economy has a long-running problem with using investment funds effectively, and I hope that the Government will take on board that issue.

The other concern that I have is that various people from the industry are quoted in the detailed notes produced in conjunction with the proposal for the first stage of the pensions review but there are no quotes from the users, from the people who require or receive pensions. I hope that my noble friend will be able to assure me that, in carrying out the first phase of the review, trade unions and bodies representing pensioners will be involved in that work.

Data Protection and Digital Information Bill

Lord Davies of Brixton Excerpts

Committee stage
Wednesday 24th April 2024 Grand Committee

[Lord Anderson of Ipswich (CB)]

My Lords, I apologise to the Committee that duties elsewhere in the House prevented me from attending the last two debates on Monday and so from speaking to the amendments that I had tabled and signed. However, I have read the Official Report with care.

I cannot pretend to be a data protection nerd, or even a social security nerd, like some speakers in those debates, but I hope that I pass muster as a surveillance nerd, having written for the Home Secretary two of the reports that informed the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 and, more recently, a report that informed the Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill, which I see is to be given Royal Assent tomorrow.

I support all the amendments in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, in this group. Of course there must be a code of practice. Of course it must be consulted on and scrutinised. I would add that that of course we could not contemplate passing this schedule into law until we have seen and studied it. An annual report of the sort that accompanies the reasonable suspicion power to issue financial institution notices, exercised by HMRC under Schedule 36 to the Finance Act 2008, would also be useful. For example, it is from the last of those reports, dated January 2024, that I learned that these reasonable suspicion tax information powers were now being used to obtain location data—something that it had previously been said would not be done.

Dan Squires, one of the authors of the legal opinion that I know was referred to on Monday, is not only a King’s Counsel but a deputy High Court judge and a genuine expert in this area. He and his junior, Aidan Wills, point in that opinion to the personal nature of some of the data that could be harvested under the proposed power and advise that Schedule 11 does not come close to the safeguards required for compliance with Article 8. They refer in particular to the striking lack of clarity about the grounds on which and the circumstances in which the proposed power can be used, as well as to the absence of both independent authorisation and independent oversight. They point out that, although saving up to £600 million over five years is a very important objective, it weighs no more heavily—indeed, probably less heavily—than the normal justifications for obtaining information in bulk: protecting national security and the prevention and detection of serious crime. Their opinion is well referenced, persuasive and consistent with the view on proportionality expressed by both the Information Commissioner and the Constitution Committee, on which I sit.

On Monday, the Minister referred to the power in Schedule 23 to the Finance Act 2011 to obtain certain data items from particular classes of data holder—for example, employers and land agents. So I had a look at that schedule and the data-gathering regulations under its paragraph 1. The power would appear to apply only to certain tightly defined items, such as payments made by the employer or arising from use of land. There would appear to be a noticeable contrast with location data, personal spending habits and so on, which fall within the scope of the powers in this schedule, as they are written in the Bill. Both HMRC and the Home Office operate under powers tightly defined in legislation. Assurances that those powers will be used in a restrained way, as Justice has commented in its useful briefing on the Bill, simply do not cut it. I am afraid that the law requires the DWP to be subject to the same constraints.

I am concerned: concerned that this important new power was not subject to detailed consultation or even to scrutiny by a Commons Bill Committee, where useful evidence could have been heard; concerned that it could even have been contemplated that so vague a power might be in the Bill and not accompanied by a code of practice; concerned about the absence of an independent approval and oversight mechanism, equivalent to the Office for Communications Data Authorisations and the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office; and concerned that, if we do not get this potentially valuable power right from the start, it will immediately be subject to legal challenges, which will swiftly render it unusable.

If, as I believe, Schedule 11 is currently unfit for purpose, is there time to rescue it? I have a couple of practical suggestions. First, I saw the investigatory powers unit from the Home Office when it happened to be in the House yesterday, and I wondered if there might be utility in it comparing notes with the Bill team about these types of powers and their attendant safeguards.

Secondly, I hope the Government appreciate the significance—at least to us nerds in the Committee—of the legal analysis of Dan Squires KC and Aidan Wills. If we are to be told that it is mistaken, which would certainly be unusual, I for one would like to see that backed up by an opinion from a lawyer of equivalent stature, whether at the GLD or independent counsel, explaining precisely and persuasively why Mr Squires and Mr Wills are wrong. Otherwise, and without significant change of the type identified in the opinion, I am afraid I am not inclined to give this schedule the benefit of the doubt.

I signed up to the stand part notice of the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron, thinking it would at least be a platform to think about what amendments to the schedule might be needed. The more I read the schedule and the more I hear about it, the more I am driven to the conclusion that, if we do not see substantial change, opposing the schedule may be the way that we have to go at the next stage.

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

In the two previous groups, I raised pension credit, and it is notable that the noble Viscount the Minister has not responded on that point. As such, my automatic assumption is that he believes that the implementation of these powers will deter people from seeking pension credit, which is contrary to the Government’s declared policy to encourage people. I mention that in passing, given this opportunity.

My other moan is about the impact assessment; there is none. I do not like the impact assessment that we have. It is a totally impenetrable and meaningless document, which is clearly there just as a matter of form rather than as a serious attempt to try to inform participants in these debates about what is in the Bill and what impact it will have on people and organisations.

My specific points are broadly in line with the points raised by UK Finance, the overall organisation for financial organisations, including banks and insurance companies, which continues to have serious concerns about these provisions. I think we should listen carefully to what it says. In particular, if we are going to have these powers then, in line with the amendments tabled by my noble friend Lady Sherlock, we have to make sure that they are introduced in an effective way that appreciates the vulnerabilities of customers.

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[Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)]

That is correct. I hope indeed that it provides some reassurance that extending it to the banks and financial institutions initially is deliberately designed to be narrow. It would be subject to both Houses to debate other areas beyond those. I am coming on to address that. The noble Baroness asked about phone companies. Simply put, we will be able to designate the third parties that fit within the provisions of this legislation where they hold information that would help us to verify whether someone meets the eligibility criteria for the benefit that they are receiving. However, ultimately, it would be for Parliament to decide whether a third party can be designated under this power, as we must bring affirmative regulations forward to do this. We have that power.

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

To be clear, they already have some information about claimants or recipients. Does this Bill make any difference to that information? Can they already use the information that they have for these purposes, for example the name and address of a claimant’s bank account, or does this Bill extend the use of information to other information that they already have?

[Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)]

Indeed, that is correct. I hope that is helpful and gives the noble Lord reassurance. To clarify, we have our normal business-as-usual processes so, where we are able to—with the restriction of not at present being able to use the banks and financial institutions as a conduit—we have those powers. However, obviously, as has been made clear by the ICO, there is no alternative to needing the help of banks and financial institutions to go further in tackling the ever-greater sophistication of fraud.

The noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, asked whether we could issue an AIN to a bank other than that into which the benefit is paid. The answer is no. The power is exercisable only in respect of a matching account that meets the criteria in an AIN and receives a benefit payment. If this is not the case, the Secretary of State cannot require them to supply that information.

When it comes to issuing an AIN, DWP will be able to exercise these powers only for payments for which it is responsible. This means that DWP cannot exercise this power with some benefits that fall under the legislation, such as child benefit, as was mentioned on Monday. I know that the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, raised this issue. As I committed to do on Monday, I will provide in writing more detail on the scope of the measure and on these limitations, which will require more time.

I will also ensure that my letter is clear on how the measure will impact appointees, joint claims and other such accounts. I am well aware that a number of questions were asked about this matter on Monday but, in the interests of time, I will move on.

I turn to proofs of concept. I also want to speak about our approach to delivery, in particular how we plan to test delivery before we gradually scale up operational delivery; I am aware of the time, but I hope that the Committee will indulge me. Our planned period of “test and learn” will build on our learning from our two previous proofs of concept, which we conducted in 2017 and 2022. These demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach and contributed to the OBR’s certification that the measure will save up to £600 million over the next five years.

The two proofs of concept that I mention are important. I hope that the Committee will be interested to read the results, which demonstrate why we need to do this. Without further ado, let me say that I will set out the details of these two examples in the letter as well, which will, I hope, be helpful.

The noble Lord, Lord Vaux, who is in his place, the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, and the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, spoke about the regulatory impact assessment on Monday. I just want to use this time to reassure them on that. More information on these proofs are contained within the RIA, which was, as noble Lords will know, green-rated by the RPC.

On “test and learn”, we have a clear view on how this power may work. We are already working with third parties in readiness to commence the formal “test and learn” period in early 2025 and preparing the code of practice in advance of that. I will come on to that in just a second—in fact, I will come on to it right now, given the time. I shall refer to Amendments 225 to 232 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock.

To support the delivery of this measure, we will produce the code of practice to help define how the measure will work, with explanations. I assure the noble Baroness and the Committee that the code of practice is already in development; we are working positively with around eight leading financial institutions through an established working group that meets regularly to shape the code. We are fully committed to continuing that work; I think I covered the timing of that earlier in my remarks. Accepting Amendments 225 and 226 in the name of the noble Baroness would therefore, we believe, have minimal effect. I am clear that DWP will produce a code of practice, which will be consulted on; I have also set out the sort of detail that it will contain. Accepting them may also potentially restrict our ability to develop the code of practice further as we understand more from “test and learn”.

Because we are developing this collaboratively with banks, I am not yet in a position to share the draft code, as I mentioned; I have given certain reassurances on that. However, I can say that it will provide guidance on issues such as the nature of the power and to whom it will apply. It will also provide information on safeguards, cover data security responsibilities and provide information on the appeals processes should a third party wish to dispute a request. We will engage with SSAC, to help the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, as we bring forward the affirmative regulations. On balance, I believe that the best course is to consult on the code of practice rather than rushing to define it now.

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[Viscount Camrose (Con)]

No, indeed, it is a deeply serious point. I do not know the number off the top of my head but there are a number of deaths every year as a result of these things.

As I was saying, a thorough impact assessment was undertaken for the NUAR measures, which received a green rating from the Regulatory Policy Committee. Impacts on organisations that help facilitate the exchange of data related to assets in the street were included in the modelling. Although NUAR could impact existing utility—

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

I cannot resist drawing the Minister’s attention to the story in today’s Financial Times, which reports that two major water companies do not know where their sewers are. So I think the impact is going to be a little bit greater than he is saying.

[Viscount Camrose (Con)]

I saw that story. Obviously, regardless of how they report the data, if they do not know, they do not know. But my thought was that, if there are maps available for everything that is known, that tends to encourage people who do not know to take better control of the assets that they manage.

A discovery project is under way to potentially allow these organisations—these alternative providers—to access NUAR data; LSBUD has been referenced, among others. It attended the last three workshops we conducted on this, which I hope could enable it to adapt its services and business models potentially to mitigate any negative impacts. Such opportunities will be taken forward in future years should they be technically feasible, of value, in the public interest and in light of the views of stakeholders, including asset owners.

A national underground asset register depends on bringing data together from asset owners on to a single standardised database. This will allow data to be shared more efficiently than was possible before. Asset owners have existing processes that have been developed to allow them to manage risks associated with excavations. These processes will be developed in compliance with existing guidance in the form of HSG47. To achieve this, those working on NUAR are already working closely with relevant stakeholders as part of a dedicated adoption group. This will allow for a safe and planned rollout of NUAR to those who will benefit from it.

Artificial Intelligence (Regulation) Bill [HL]

Lord Davies of Brixton Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 22nd March 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

My Lords, I speak not as an expert in AI but as a user, and I make no apology for the fact that I use it to do my work here in this Chamber. Your Lordships can form your own judgment as to which bits of my following remarks were written by me, and which are from ChatGPT.

I very much welcome the Bill. The Noble Lord, Lord Holmes of Richmond, gave us an inspirational speech which was totally convincing on the need for legislation. The Bill is obviously the first step on that way. The promise of artificial intelligence is undeniable. There is a large degree of hype from those with vested interests, and there is, to a significant extent, a bubble. Nevertheless, even if that is true, we still need an appropriate level of regulation.

AI provides the opportunity to revolutionise industries, enhance our daily lives and solve some of the most pressing problems we face today—from healthcare to climate change—and solutions that are not available in other ways. However, with greater power comes greater responsibility. The rapid advance of AI technology has outpaced our regulatory frameworks, leading to innovation without adequate oversight, ethical consideration or accountability, so we undoubtedly need a regulator. I take the point that it has to be focused and simple. We need rigorous ethical standards and transparency in AI development to ensure that these technologies serve the good of all, not just commercial interests. We cannot wait for these forces to play out before deciding what needs to be done. I very much support the remarks of the previous speaker, the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Worcester, who set out the position very clearly.

We need to have a full understanding of the implications of AI for employment and the workforce. These technologies will automate tasks previously performed by humans, and we face significant impacts on the labour market. The prevailing model for AI is to seek the advantage for the developers and not so much for the workers. This is an issue we will need to confront. We will have to debate the extent to which that is the job of the regulator.

As I indicate, I favour a cautious approach to AI development. We should be focusing on meaningful applications that prioritise human well-being and benefits to society over corporate profit. Again, how this fits in with the role of the regulator is for discussion, but a particular point that needs to be made here is that we need to understand the massive amounts of energy that even simple forms of AI consume. This needs to be borne in mind in any approach to developing this industry.

In the Bill, my attention was caught by the use of the undefined term “relevant regulators”. Perhaps the noble Lord, Lord Holmes, could fill that in a bit more; it is a bit of a catch-all at the moment. My particular concern is the finance industry, which will use this technology massively, not necessarily to the benefit of consumers. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, emphasised the problem of regulatory arbitrage. We need a consistent layer of regulation. Another concern is mental health: there will be AI systems that claim to offer benefits to those with mental health problems. Again, this will need severe regulation.

To conclude, I agree with my noble friend Lord Chandos that regulation is necessarily the enemy of economic success. There is a balance to be drawn between gaining all the benefits of technology and the potential downsides. I welcome the opportunity to discuss how this should be regulated.

Data Protection and Digital Information Bill

Lord Davies of Brixton Excerpts

Committee stage
Wednesday 20th March 2024 Grand Committee

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

My Lords, I rise to speak in favour of Amendments 1 and 5 in this group and with sympathy towards Amendment 4. The noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, will remember when I was briefly Minister for Health. We had lots of conversations about health data. One of the things we looked at was a digitised NHS. It was essential if we were to solve many problems of the future and have a world-class NHS, but the problem was that we had to make sure that patients were comfortable with the use of their data and the contexts in which it could be used.

When we were looking to train AI, it was important that we made sure that the data was as anonymous as possible. For example, we looked at things such as synthetic and pseudonymised data. There is another point: having done the analysis and looked at the dataset, if you see an identifiable group of people who may well be at risk, how can you reverse-engineer that data perhaps to notify those patients that they should be contacted for further medical interventions?

I know that that makes it far too complicated; I just wanted to rise briefly to support the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, on this issue, before the new rules come in next week. It is essential that the users, the patients—in other spheres as well—have absolute confidence that their data is theirs and are given the opportunity to give permission or opt out as much as possible.

One of the things that I said when I was briefed as a Health Minister was that we can have the best digital health system in the world, but it is no good if people choose to opt out or do not have confidence. We need to make sure that the Bill gives those patients that confidence where their data is used in other areas. We need to toughen this bit up. That is why I support Amendments 1 and 5 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones.

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

My Lords, anonymisation of data is crucially important in this debate. I want to see, through the Bill, a requirement for personal data, particularly medical data, to be held within trusted research environments. This is a well-developed technique and Britain is the leader. It should be a legal requirement. I am not quite sure that we have got that far in the Bill; maybe we will need to return to the issue on Report.

The extent to which pseudonymisation—I cannot say it—is possible is vastly overrated. There is a sport among data scientists of being able to spot people within generally available datasets. For example, the data available to TfL through people’s use of Oyster cards and so on tells you an immense amount of information about individuals. Medical data is particularly susceptible to this, although it is not restricted to medical data. I will cite a simple example from publicly available data.

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[Baroness Harding of Winscombe (Con)]

My Lords, I will be brief because I associate myself with everything that the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron, just said. This is where the rubber hits the road from our previous group. If we all believe that it is important to maintain children’s protection, I hope that my noble friend the Minister will be able to accept if not the exact wording of the children-specific amendments in this group then the direction of travel—and I hope that he will commit to coming back and working with us to make sure that we can get wording into the Bill.

I am hugely in favour of research in the private sector as well as in universities and the public sector; we should not close our minds to that at all. We need to be realistic that all the meaningful research in AI is currently happening in the private sector, so I do not want to close that door at all, but I am extremely uncomfortable with a Secretary of State having the ability to amend access to personal data for children in this context. It is entirely sensible to have a defined code of conduct for the use of children’s data in research. We have real evidence that a code of conduct setting out how to protect children’s rights and data in this space works, so I do not understand why it would not be a good idea to do research if we want the research to happen but we want children’s rights to be protected at a much higher level.

It seems to me that this group is self-evidently sensible, in particular Amendments 8, 22, 23 and 145. I put my name to all of them except Amendment 22 but, the more I look at the Bill, the more uncomfortable I get with it; I wish I had put my name to Amendment 22. We have discussed Secretary of State powers in each of the digital Bills that we have looked at and we know about the power that big tech has to lobby. It is not fair on Secretaries of State in future to have this ability to amend—it is extremely dangerous. I express my support for Amendment 22.

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

I just want to say that I agree with what the previous speakers have said. I particularly support Amendment 133; in effect, I have already made my speech on it. At that stage, I spoke about pseudonymised data but I focused my remarks on scientific research. Clearly, I suspect that the Minister’s assurances will not go far enough, although I do not want to pre-empt what he says and I will listen carefully to it. I am sure that we will have to return to this on Report.

I make a small additional point: I am not as content as the noble Baroness, Lady Harding of Winscombe, about commercial research. Different criteria apply; if we look in more detail at ensuring that research data is protected, there may be special factors relating to commercial research that need to be covered in a potential code of practice or more detailed regulations.

Data Protection and Digital Information Bill

Lord Davies of Brixton Excerpts

2nd reading
Tuesday 19th December 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord de Clifford, on his excellent maiden speech. I am sure that in this area and others he will be a valuable addition to the House.

One of the advantages of speaking towards the end of the debate is that much of what one could have said has already been said. I particularly enjoyed the speech from my noble friend Lord Knight of Weymouth highlighting the way in which the Bill is consistently behind the curve, always fighting the last war. To some extent, that is inevitable in a field like this, which is developing so rapidly, and I am not convinced that sufficient thought has been given to how developments in digital technology require developments in how it is tackled in legislation.

I think we will have an interesting Committee, in which I will participate as much as I can. The Minister will have a busy spring, with at least two major Bills going through. I hope the Whips have taken account of the number of concerns that have been expressed in this debate, and by external bodies, and that enough time will be allowed in Committee. A particular concern is the large number of amendments added at a late stage in the Commons, which have not had sufficient consideration. It will be our job to look at them in detail.

The proposal to allow the inspection of people’s bank accounts with no due cause is a matter of due concern, which has been mentioned by many people in this debate. I highlight the remarks of UK Finance, the representative body for the banking and financial sector. It says:

“These Department for Work and Pensions proposals have been suggested previously, but they are not part of the economic crime plan 2 or fraud strategy, which are the focus of industry efforts in terms of public-private partnership in tackling economic crime”.


UK Finance goes on to suggest that powers should be more narrowly focused, that they should not leave vulnerable customers disadvantaged—as would appear to be the case in the current drafting—and that further consultation is needed with consumer groups and charities to capture the wider needs of people affected by this proposal. It also suggests that the delivery time for this proposal should be extended even further into the future. For the benefit of the Minister, I shall just interpret that by explaining that what it is saying is, “We have no idea where this proposal came from. It has no part in the overall strategy that was being developed to tackle fraud and we want it pushed off into the indefinite future”—in other words, do not bother. Perhaps the Minister will listen to UK Finance.

I want to focus my remarks particularly on health and health data, which is a particular concern. It is so intimate and personal that it requires additional consideration. It is not just another piece of data; this goes to heart of who we are. The Government said in the context of the King’s Speech that this Bill has been written with industry and for industry. Well, quite. It is possible that some of the changes might result in less work for businesses, including those working in healthcare, but the danger is that the additional flexibility which is being proposed will in fact create additional costs because it is less clear and straightforward, there will be increased risks of disclosure of information that should not be disclosed, and the non-standardised regime will just lead to confusion.

Data regulation can slow down the pace of data sharing, increase people’s concerns about risk, and make research and innovation more difficult. Patients and the public generally quite rightly expect particularly high standards in this area, and I have concerns that this Bill makes the situation worse and that its influence is negative rather than positive. This is a danger, because it affects the public’s attitude to health and health data. If people are worried about the disclosure of their information, this impacts on them seeking and taking advantage of healthcare. That affects all of us, so it is not just a matter of personal concern.

One of the big arguments for the disclosure of health data is that it is available for scientific and developmental research. The need for this is recognised and there are additional safeguards. The UK Health Security Agency can reuse data that is collected by the NHS for the business of disease control, and that is something I am sure we all favour. However, the concept that any data can be reused for scientific purposes has grave dangers, particularly when this Bill fails to define tightly enough what the scientific and developmental research amounts to. The definition of scientific research here appears to apply to commercial as well as non-commercial outfits, whether it is funded publicly or is a private development. This is the sort of concern that we are going to have to tackle in Committee to provide people with the protection that they quite rightly expect.

If we look in more detail at health data, we see that it is protected by the Caldicott principles for health and social care data. It is worth reading the eight principles. The first sets the scene. It says, in the context of social care:

“Every proposed use … of confidential information should be clearly defined, scrutinised and documented, with continuing uses regularly reviewed by an appropriate guardian”.


This Bill is in grave danger of moving beyond that level of protection, which has been agreed and which people expect. People want and expect better regulation of their personal data and more say over what happens to it. This Bill moves us away from that.

It is worth looking in this context at the views of the BMA, which is particularly concerned about health data. It emphasises the fact that the public expect high standards and calls on this House to challenge what it regards as the “problematic provisions” and to seek some reassurance from the Government. I will list what the BMA regards as problematic provisions and why it does not like them: Clause 11, which erodes transparency of information to data subjects; Clauses 32, 35, 143 and 144, which risk eroding regulatory independence and freedom; Clause 1, which risks eroding protections for data by narrowing the definition of “personal data”; Clause 14, which risks eroding trust in AI; Clause 17, which risks eroding the expertise and independence of organisational oversight; and Clauses 20 and 21, which risk eroding organisational data governance. We will need to explore all of these issues in Committee. The hope is that they will get the attention that they deserve.

When it comes to medical data, there is an even stronger case, which the Bill needs to tackle straight on, around people’s genetic information. This is the holy grail of data, which people are desperate to get hold of. It says so much about people, their background and their experiences. We need a super level of protection for genetic data. Again, this is something that needs to be tackled in the Bill.

There are other issues of concern that I could mention—for example, the abolition of the Biometrics Commissioner and Surveillance Camera Commissioner. This is a point of particular concern, raised by a number of bodies. It is quite clear that something is being lost by moving these over to a single commissioner. There is a softer power held by the commissioners, which, to be honest, a single commissioner will not have the time or the bandwidth to deal with.

There is also concern that there needs to be explicit provision in the Bill to enable representative bodies, such as trade unions and commercial organisations, to pursue complaints and issues of concern on behalf of individuals. The issue of direct marketing, particularly of financial services, needs to be addressed.

So there is lots to do on this Bill. I hope the Minister recognises that, at this stage, we are just highlighting issues that need to be looked at in detail, and that time will be provided in Committee to deal with all these issues properly.

Data Protection

Lord Davies of Brixton Excerpts

Thursday 23rd March 2023 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Davies of Brixton]

To ask His Majesty’s Government when they intend to introduce legislation on the United Kingdom’s data protection framework.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (Viscount Camrose) (Con)]

My Lords, the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill was introduced to Parliament on 8 March. It seizes our post-Brexit opportunity to create a new UK data rights regime. It will now be subject to the usual parliamentary processes, starting with Second Reading in the other place, the date for which will be announced in due course.

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

I first welcome the Minister to his new role on the Front Bench, particularly given his undoubted expertise. However, I must ask him whether he understands the concerns of many at the proposal to allow NHS data to be uploaded to a data system based on tech from Palantir—of Cambridge Analytica infamy—that will offer inadequate data protection to patients? These concerns have only been increased by the Secretary of State’s claim that one of the purposes of the Bill is to give organisations greater confidence about the circumstances

“in which they can process personal data without consent.”

In other words, the Bill will reduce protection to individuals, not increase it, with one result being that some people will not seek the medical attention that they require.

[Viscount Camrose (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord for his question. My first observation is that Palantir is a very good illustration of some of the new technology providers we are seeing, because the value it was able to provide and demonstrate is very great. However, the perfectly legitimate concerns about data privacy are, none the less, equally great. Any organisation operating in the UK or processing the personal data of people in the UK must comply with our strong and internationally renowned data protection laws, and those laws set out robust penalties for those who do not, including, as necessary, Palantir. Lastly, with respect to the Secretary of State’s remarks, the intention is by no means to reduce the requirement for data protection, merely in some cases to make it more straightforward to demonstrate that the requirements are being met.