Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to prepare for the implementation of the proposed General Data Protection Regulation; which non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) and agencies overseen by his Department will be affected by that regulation; and what estimate he has made of the potential liability of his Department, its agencies and NDPBs in connection with that proposed regulation.

Negotiations on the proposed General Data Protection Regulation are ongoing. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is closely involved in work led by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport to consider the implications of the text and to ensure that UK interests are reflected. Once the outcome of trilogue negotiations between the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament and the Commission are complete, and the Regulation has been adopted, the liabilities will be further assessed. There will then follow a maximum implementation period of two years. We will also be considering the impact on our Executive Agencies (FCO Services and Wilton Park) and our Executive Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) (the British Council, the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission, the Great Britain China Centre and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy), all of which will affected by the Regulation.