Data (Use and Access) Bill [HL]

Debate between Lord Stevenson of Balmacara and Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom

Report stage
Tuesday 28th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Lab)]

My Lords, I am pleased to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Morgan, who did so much during the Online Safety Bill—now Act—to champion the issues that are now before us. She should get full credit for the first steps she made. I think I said it before, and I will say it again in her presence, that we thought we had achieved much of what we are talking about today in the final wind-up of that Bill, but we had to swap it for a slightly bigger prize and it fell down slightly on the list, so I feel very guilty about this and want to help to redress somehow the balance of the deficit that was created.

I do not want to get, in this House, any reputation for being a person who asks geeky questions about Third Reading issues, but the Minister will know that getting access to debates at Third Reading is tricky. It often requires the graven head of the clerk to nod very slowly at an appropriate moment, and I wonder if we could just rehearse that slightly so that we are quite clear exactly what the noble Baroness, Lady Morgan, was saying.

Am I right in saying that the intention—and good intentions are great—is that there will be a government amendment at Third Reading? Since it is being produced by the Government, there is not an issue for the clerk to nod at, because that is allowed. If there is a government amendment dealing with all the issues we raised today, then we are all in a good place. It is right that this House, which has done so much to come together to create it, gets the credit for this Bill going down to the Commons. That is appropriate and something that we should get right.

In the absence of the Bill—and I recognise that there are difficulties about drafting, and it may well be that we have a very short time between Report and Third Reading—would it not be appropriate for the Minister to say to the clerk that it is his intention that, if necessary, the noble Baroness, Lady Owen, may bring forward an amendment on these issues so that at least we get, if not all of the package, the parts that are relevant and most important to it in the Bill as it leaves this House? That would be helpful all round, and it would be in accordance with the sentiment of the House.

[Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom (Con)]

My Lords, I share in the congratulations of my noble friend Lady Owen. It has taken me about 10 years to begin to understand how this House works and it has taken her about 10 minutes.

I want to pursue something which bewilders me about this set of amendments, which is the amendment tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Gohir. I do not understand why we are talking about a different Bill in relation to audio fakes. Audio has been with us for many years, yet video deepfakes are relatively new. Why are we talking about a different Bill in relation to audio deepfakes?