Draft Digital Government (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2026

Debate between Steve Barclay and Stephanie Peacock

Monday 7th September 2026 General Committees

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Stephanie Peacock)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Digital Government (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2026.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. The regulations, which were laid before the House in draft on 6 July, make three targeted amendments. They improve information-sharing powers in the Digital Economy Act 2017 to support people living in fuel poverty.

First, the amendments enable specified public authorities to share information with energy suppliers for the purpose of identifying and supporting people living in fuel poverty who are experiencing energy debt. Secondly, the amendments, laid by the then Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 6 July, specify that Department under the existing fuel poverty objective, enabling the Government Department responsible for data policy to support work assisting people living in fuel poverty, including the national data library kickstarter project. Following the machinery of government changes announced in July, that responsibility is transferring to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Any technical changes needed to reflect the transfer will be made separately and will not affect how these measures operate. A third technical measure clarifies that the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero can rely on the fuel poverty objective, in accordance with the transfer of relevant functions to it in 2023.

Taken together, these practical and proportionate amendments will help to ensure that support reaches the right households at the right time. The information needed to identify households in difficulty is often held by different organisations. Properly governed data sharing can bring that information together, allowing public authorities and energy suppliers to identify need more accurately and target assistance more effectively.

The first amendment fills a specific gap in the existing framework. The current fuel poverty power supports households that cannot afford to keep their homes adequately warm, but it does not expressly cover households with outstanding energy debt. The change will help to ensure that households facing both fuel poverty and energy debt can be identified and supported, rather than falling through the gaps in existing arrangements. Although the two groups frequently overlap, fuel poverty and energy debt are not identical. The amendment therefore enables information sharing for the specific purpose of identifying and supporting households that are fuel-poor and that experience energy arrears.

The statutory instrument will provide the necessary legislation to enable the Government to support a future energy debt relief scheme. The precise design of any scheme remains under development by the Government and Ofgem, and the draft regulations do not themselves establish or fund such a scheme. They provide the legal data-sharing basis that would allow an appropriately designed scheme to operate effectively. If such a scheme proceeds, it is estimated to reduce the administrative burdens involved in identifying eligible households and providing further support to families in need. The proposal that the regulations would deliver received strong support in the consultation, with 98% of respondents supporting the proposed information-sharing arrangements.

The second amendment specifies the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology as a public authority that may share information with certain other public authorities for the existing fuel poverty objective, which will enable it to support fuel poverty initiatives such as the national data library kickstarter project. It will test ways to identify households in need by securely linking information such as earnings, benefits and energy use. That responsibility will transfer to DCMS when the machinery of government changes take place through the usual process. It will mean that, in effect, DCMS will have that function, which is more efficient than withdrawing the process and starting it again.

[Steve Barclay (North East Cambridgeshire) (Con)]

Will the Minister clarify how many people are within scope of benefiting from the regulation and what the total cost will be, in terms of the savings they will get?

[Stephanie Peacock]

I know that the right hon. Gentleman was a little bit late in arriving, but I did say that the scheme is the responsibility of the relevant Department. These regulations provide the legal framework for the data sharing.

I now turn to the third amendment, which concerns the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Its predecessor Department—the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy—was able to share information with certain other public bodies under the fuel poverty objective, and the relevant functions were transferred to DESNZ in 2023, but the relevant secondary legislation was not consequentially amended at that time. This amendment corrects that omission in the interests of certainty.

Those measures sit alongside the Government’s broader action to tackle affordability. We have cut VAT on electricity bills, expanded the warm home discount to around 6 million households, and are delivering the warm homes plan and fuel poverty strategy to reduce bills, improve energy efficiency and help to lift up to 1 million households out of fuel poverty by 2030. These regulations help to ensure that support is targeted more effectively and reaches those who need it most.

I recognise that Members will rightly expect assurances about privacy, proportionality and the potential for scope creep. These regulations do not create a general data-sharing power. Information may be shared only by specified bodies, for specified purposes and within the existing statutory framework. All sharing remains subject to the UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, restrictions on reuse and onward disclosure. Bodies sharing data should have regard to the statutory code of practice, including recording information-sharing agreements on a public register. Those safeguards are integral to the operation of these powers. Responsible data use and public trust must go together.

The regulations will help public authorities to identify households experiencing fuel poverty or energy debt and ensure that support can reach them more efficiently. They make limited, targeted changes to existing powers, while retaining strong privacy and transparency safeguards. I commend the draft regulations to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Steve Barclay]

When I was reading the draft regulations, I was confused, because I thought they mentioned a Department that had been scrapped. It seems odd to bring in a change in the law for a Department that the Government have already scrapped.

[Stephanie Peacock]

The right hon. Gentleman is an experienced Member of this House and understands how changes to the machinery of government work. We could withdraw it and bring everyone back in a few months’ time, but the most efficient way to do it is to proceed with the Department as it is; the powers will come to DCMS later. I am sure he is aware of that from his time in government. That is also the answer to the question from the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup.

I am grateful to the hon. Member for Harpenden and Berkhamsted for her point. It is absolutely right that we should take learnings from this. Indeed, towards the end of my speech, I spoke about some of the protections and some of the detail.

The right hon. Member for North East Cambridgeshire asked me some questions about who is in scope and who will benefit from the scheme. Again, had he been listening to my contribution, he would have heard—I will repeat my comments—that the precise design of any scheme remains in development by the Government and Ofgem. The draft regulations do not themselves establish or fund such a scheme; they provide the legal data-sharing basis to allow an appropriate design scheme to operate effectively.

As much as all the points are incredibly important—data poverty, fuel poverty and debt poverty, which I see in my own constituency—we are not in Committee to debate them; we are here to debate data sharing. That is what we have done, and I commend the draft regulations to the Committee.

Question put and agreed to.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Steve Barclay and Stephanie Peacock

Tuesday 6th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Stephanie Peacock (Barnsley East) (Lab)]

The non-surgical breast cancer service in South Yorkshire is facing a critical shortage of oncologists. The shortage is so severe that patients are being told to expect months between referral and appointment. What immediate steps are the Government taking to ensure that patients, no matter their postcode, see a specialist as soon as they need to do so?

[Steve Barclay]

As reflected in the fact that we met the faster diagnosis standard in February and March for the first time, we are investing more in our cancer services to meet the recognised increase in demand. That is why more patients are being treated sooner and survival rates are improving. I am happy to look at any variation at a local level because of workforce pressure, but the diagnostic centres and surgical hubs are all part of our response to the increase in cancer demand.

NHS Winter Pressures

Debate between Steve Barclay and Stephanie Peacock

Monday 9th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

As I said at the outset, today’s announcement is part of the wider recovery programme that we discussed with health leaders at No. 10 on Saturday. That will have a number of components, one of which is the urgent and emergency care recovery. Work is ongoing with Home Office colleagues on the visa component. My hon. Friend raises an extremely important point that a number of clinicians on the frontline have raised with me, and I am discussing it with my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary.

[Stephanie Peacock (Barnsley East) (Lab)]

More than 5,000 operations have been cancelled at Barnsley Hospital in the last year. What are the Government doing to reassure those in Barnsley who are waiting in pain for delayed operations? Will they ensure that any new staff are deployed first to the areas that need them most?

[Steve Barclay]

I share the hon. Lady’s desire to reduce the backlog in the electives programme, which is why the Government have invested a further £8 billion. To ensure that it delivers value for money, the key focus is on building greater resilience into that elective programme through surgical hubs and the better use of community diagnostic centres, in particular by having a distinction between hot and cold sites.

Too often in the past, as winter pressures have surged, elective operations have been cancelled to free up bed capacity. Having the surgical hubs and the hot and cold sites builds greater resilience. I pay tribute to the work of the Getting It Right First Time team, and to Professor Tim Briggs and Jim Mackey, who are leading that programme. We saw the progress that was made in the summer and we are very focused on the next stage, which is 78-week waits. We are working very actively on that.

Urgent and Emergency Care

Debate between Steve Barclay and Stephanie Peacock

Monday 5th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

I am very happy to ensure that that specific case, which is obviously concerning, is looked at. As my hon. Friend will know from my earlier remarks, we are boosting the number of 999 call handlers—those numbers are up and there are around 350 more call handlers than in September 2021—and we are also training more paramedics. Numbers are going up, but obviously demand has increased exponentially as well.

[Stephanie Peacock (Barnsley East) (Lab)]

A nurse in Barnsley East wrote to me about the incredibly traumatic death of her mother. When her mum suffered a brain haemorrhage, her dad called the emergency services twice. They told him to call back as they did not have an ambulance or a responder to help. An hour and 40 minutes later, the ambulance arrived but it was too late for her to receive any treatment, and she later passed away.

Sadly, this is not an isolated incident. Our emergency services are in crisis. They are understaffed and under-funded. What are the Government doing to prevent tragedies such as that from ever happening again?

[Steve Barclay]

We are putting in additional funding, whether that is the additional £1.5 billion put into GP capacity in 2020, the £450 million to upgrade A&E facilities across 120 trusts, the extra £150 million specifically put into the ambulance service, the £30 million put into the St John Ambulance contract over the summer, or the further £50 million that has gone into call handling to boost the 111 service. Significant additional funds are going in as part of the support for the significant pressure that we recognise there has been over the summer.

Women’s Health Strategy for England

Debate between Steve Barclay and Stephanie Peacock

Wednesday 20th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Stephanie Peacock (Barnsley East) (Lab)]

How will this strategy address the postcode lottery associated with gynaecological wait times?

[Steve Barclay]

Again, it is partly by having an ambassador that will be tasked with advocating in that space, by having the data to give visibility to that, and also by working in partnership with commissioning groups, with the NHS, and with the royal colleges on training, that much greater focus will be brought to these issues.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Steve Barclay and Stephanie Peacock

Tuesday 23rd October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Stephanie Peacock (Barnsley East) (Lab)]

Will the Government write off the debts of Yorkshire hospitals so that extra money invested can go into patient care?

[Stephen Barclay]

As the Secretary of State set out, we are making a significant funding commitment to the NHS—the extra £20 billion—but that is not conditional on writing off debt.