Data Protection Act 2018: Children

Debate between Earl of Courtown and Baroness Kidron

Thursday 4th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Kidron (CB) [V]]

I thank the noble Baroness for her response. However, the other thing that children said in the Government’s own review was that 96% of them thought that charities should be able to represent them—and that they had a “lack of support” and

“had not heard of the ICO.”

As the noble Baroness said, they also lacked awareness of how companies such as advertisers might use their personal data—so they may not even know that they have a problem. As such, I challenge the noble Baroness to say that only a handful people can successfully understand and challenge data protection law.

The other thing is that the Government’s reasoning was that children now benefit from the protections of the age-appropriate design code, so I ask the noble Baroness, as Minister for Youth Policy and DCMS: how do the Government reconcile wilfully ignoring the views of children—in favour of the business interests of the tech sector—with their duties under Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is that views must be heard in “matters affecting the child”? Are we to understand from this that—

[The Earl of Courtown (Con)]

My Lords, could the noble Baroness curtail her question? It is time for the Minister to reply.

[Baroness Kidron (CB) [V]]

I beg your pardon. Is it the Government’s position to adopt protections for children and then block meaningful routes of redress?