Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston
Main Page: Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston (Crossbench - Life peer)Data Breaches (Consumer Protection)
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston ExcerptsUrgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
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Mr Vaizey
I think the hon. Gentleman is referring to the Government Digital Service; and the Minister for the Cabinet Office, who is responsible for that service, has today made an important speech on its future. It is an extremely successful part of Government, and the hon. Gentleman can rest assured that the Government take the protection of citizens’ data on their own platforms extremely seriously.
Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)
I had better start by declaring an interest: I am a customer of TalkTalk and have so far not been contacted by the company by email or phone, or in any other way. The title for the urgent question contains the words “consumer protection”. Have Ministers considered ways that consumers can assess whether the providers of any of these services have robust cyber-security mechanisms in place? At the moment, we are completely blindsided as consumers.
Mr Vaizey
The right hon. Lady makes a valid point. In many cases, businesses set out extremely detailed terms and conditions, but the idea that they are consumer-friendly is wide of the mark. If I can take, as it were, the spirit of her question, some kind of kitemark to denote companies that have robust cyber-security procedures in place would be something worth exploring.