Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether the Information Commissioner plans to review the data privacy practices of major academic publishers.

The ICO rigorously oversees and enforces compliance with UK data protection law across the whole economy where it relates to the processing of personal data. It does this in a range of ways, including by receiving complaints from members of the public, issuing guidance for organisations and where necessary investigating potential non-compliance. Whilst the ICO is not undertaking specific work to review academic publishers' privacy practices, this may change if evidence comes to light during the undertaking of its regulatory duties.