Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to protect personal data held by Ministry of Justice Shared Services when that data is off-shored to countries with less robust data protection than the UK.

The Ministry of Justice is entering into detailed discussions with Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL) regarding the future delivery of their back office services with the intention of awarding a contract in August 2014. We expect this to bring increased savings and efficiency in back-office functions, provide further benefits across wider Government and offer better value for money to the tax payer.

It is a part of Shared Services Connected Limited's business strategy to move some of its work offshore. However, no decision has been taken to move any of the work of MoJ Shared Services offshore. Should there be any proposals to offshore MoJ work in the future, specific agreement would be needed from the MoJ. This would also include the need to make sure that the right level of data security was in place.