Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has issued guidance to parish councils on compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation.

The Government and the Information Commissioner recognise the challenges facing organisations across the UK in their preparations for the Data Protection Bill and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). There are already resources on the Commissioner's website (ico.org.uk) to help organisations employing fewer than 250 people, including parish councils, prepare. The Commissioner has launched a dedicated helpline service for smaller organisations and has updated its 'SME toolkit' to reflect the requirements of the GDPR. The Commissioner will also be simplifying her "12-step" GDPR preparation guidance in response to feedback from small and micro-enterprises and will continue to develop further guidance on both the Bill and GDPR.