Hansard

I am pleased to make a short contribution to the debate on the legislative consent motion on the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill. The bill was previously introduced at the House of Commons and, as Collette Stevenson has just reminded us, is currently in the House of Lords, awaiting its third reading.

The bill is largely uncontroversial and seems to have had general support from stakeholders. It aims to reform the UK’s data protection structure following withdrawal from the European Union. The bill will establish a framework for the provision of digital verification services, to enable digital identities to be used with the same confidence as paper documents. It will increase the fines for nuisance calls and texts under the privacy and electronic communications regulations and update those same regulations to cut down on the annoying pop-ups and banners that we all get, which require user consent.

The bill will also allow for the sharing of customer data through smart data schemes to provide services such as personalised market comparisons and account management, and, in England and Wales, it will reform the way in which births and deaths are registered, away from a paper-based system to an electronic register, something that we in Scotland dealt with a year or two ago as part of the Covid legislation.

On the question of law enforcement and natural security, the bill seeks to facilitate the flow of personal data to make it more accessible in order to crack down on crime. The bill will also create a new office of information commissioner, with extended and strengthened powers.

That is all generally welcome. In particular, I think that many of us will welcome action to crack down on nuisance calls and texts, which are an increasing menace. Just this week, I was speaking to a constituent who had been targeted by nuisance texts. Somebody had tried to take control of their phone and was sending out messages to everybody in their contact book asking for money to be transferred. Fortunately, nobody was caught out in that situation, but we know that nuisance calls and texts are a menace that is currently troubling society, so if we are able to increase the fines and crack down on that, it would be very welcome.

There has been general support for the bill from a lot of stakeholders. The current Information Commissioner, John Edwards, has welcomed the bill and said that data protection law needs to be updated and give people confidence that they can share their information, knowing that it will be dealt with in a safe and secure manner.

The bill has been welcomed by techUK, the trade association for technology, which believes that the bill will help to boost innovation while upholding privacy rights and EU adequacy, as well as by the Investing and Savings Alliance, which particularly welcomed what the bill says about smart data schemes.

In giving evidence to the Economy and Fair Work Committee, the minister, Richard Lochhead, talked about the advantages that the bill will provide. For example, for people who are dealing with the Department for Work and Pensions or His Majesty’s Passport Office, data could be checked between the two organisations, which would reduce the burden on the consumer of continually providing the same information to different Government agencies. That makes Government more efficient, and it makes it a much more efficient transaction for the consumer. There will be opportunities for consumers who are, for example, looking for lower prices when shifting their energy tariffs, because that smart data can be transferred much more easily.

This is a very welcome piece of legislation. I am encouraged that the Scottish Government is minded to consent to it in relation to the devolved areas that it touches on, and the Conservatives are happy to support the motion this afternoon.