Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Oral Answers to Questions

David Davis Excerpts
Monday 20th January 2020

(4 years, 11 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Michelle Donelan Portrait Michelle Donelan
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I am more than happy to meet the hon. Member, who has done a great deal of work to raise the issue, and take learnings from him. When it comes to SEND, our focus is not on the condition but on the child’s individual needs. I want to understand what the hon. Member thinks we could do better to help children.

David Davis Portrait Mr David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden) (Con)
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The Secretary of State started topical questions by describing the improper release of 28 million records of students and schoolchildren. That serious breach of privacy and data protection was made even more serious by the fact that the data appears to have been used to get even more young children hooked on gambling. One problem in this policy area is that the companies involved view the fines as just the cost of doing business. Through the Secretary of State, may I say to the Information Commissioner that I hope the fine in this case is many multiples of the profit made? I hope the Secretary of State will have his Department sue the company concerned for breach of practice.

Gavin Williamson Portrait Gavin Williamson
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We take the abuse of this information incredibly seriously. We have referred the matter to the Information Commissioner and we hope that the Information Commissioner takes the most strident action so that such breaches never occur again.