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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what representations she has received on EE's decision to close its freeserve email account service; and whether there is a requirement for consumers to be provided with (a) reasonable notice of such changes and (b) the facility to obtain their personal data and emails related to that service in a usable format.

DCMS is not aware of any representations made to the department regarding EE's decision to close the Freeserve e-mail platform. The decision to do so is a commercial decision for EE, who we understand have given affected customers advance notice ahead of the closure of accounts in May 2017. EE have also advised that help is available to customers wishing to transfer content to a new e-mail platform.

Organisations that process personal data in the UK must comply Data Protection Act’s (DPA) eight data protection principles. These include requiring personal data to be processed fairly and lawfully; to be accurate and up-to-date; not to be kept for longer than is necessary; and to be processed in accordance with the rights of the data subjects under the DPA. Failure to comply with the Act is an offence. Further information about these obligations can be found on the ICO’s website at:

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/