Meeting of the Parliament 09 May 2024
I begin with a moment of levity: if Murdo Fraser is concerned about nuisance text messages, maybe he should just unsubscribe from the Conservative group WhatsApp group.
I am grateful for the work that the committee has done. This is a technical but important piece of legislation, as data is incredibly important to the economy. Data has the power to drive growth and innovation, create new businesses across the country and transform our public services. However, as our lives gradually move further online, it is essential that citizens have control over their own data. That is why it is essential that data legislation is modernised and why we support the principle of the bill.
The Labour Party agrees that a new digital verification framework is required, and we support the UK Government’s aim to strengthen the enforcement powers of the Information Commissioner’s Office. However, I note our concerns, particularly with the way in which the UK Government loaded additional amendments at the last moment, ahead of the third reading. On the last day, 240 amendments were added to the bill, which made consideration and scrutiny of the bill as it went through the House of Commons at the third reading incredibly hard. For example, the bill will make it harder to make a successful subject access request and will remove the automatic right to human review in scenarios such as mortgage and loan approvals.
Although I note the comments made by the cabinet secretary around EU data adequacy, we must look carefully at the changes that the bill makes to general data protection regulation to ensure that we have standards in this country that are equivalent to those in Europe.
Despite those reservations, I agree with the cabinet secretary that consent should be granted by this Parliament, as the contents of the bill are theoretical and relate to devolved competencies, and to review such consent could be dangerous in terms of our ability to maintain pace and make use of the other beneficial provisions.
In summary, data has a huge role to play in driving growth and innovation and, indeed, the delivery of improved public services. However, to secure those benefits, we have to stay on top of the risks and, crucially, build public trust.
Labour will be supporting the legislative consent motion at decision time.