Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the proposed timetable for the passage of a new communications data bill through both Houses in order to meet the present legislation's sunset deadline of December 2016.

The Government are committed to introducing a Bill on investigatory powers early next year, so that it can receive Royal Assent before the sunset clause in the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act comes into effect at the end of 2016. In order to meet that timetable and allow the full parliamentary scrutiny, we intend to bring forward a draft Bill for consideration in the autumn, which will be subject to full pre-legislative scrutiny, including by a Joint Committee of both Houses.