Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason the Cabinet Office Rapid Response Unit (a) collected and (b) stored personal data on the content of each of the interviews given by the hon Member for Christchurch on (a) 3 November 2020 with LBC, (b) 4 February 2021 with Newsnight, (c) 28 June 2021 with Times Radio, (d) 13 September 2021 with the BBC, (e) 1 December 2021 with The Daily Telegraph and (f) 6 December 2021 with Talk Radio.

I refer the Hon. member to the answers given to PQs 148800, 148801, 148802 on 28 February 2023.

The Rapid Response Unit was used to understand the spread of information and potential disinformation, and help inform how the Government communicates effectively with the public.

Online disinformation is a serious threat to the UK, which is why we brought together expertise from across government to monitor disinformation, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. These units used publicly available data, including material shared on social media platforms, to assess UK disinformation trends and narratives. They have since been disbanded and the learning and expertise is now being replicated across the wider Government Communications Service.