DATA SECURITY: GOVT'S TRACK RECORD

Further to my previous post, I've been doing a little research. It would seem that (some of) the various legislative changes to the data protection/security regime that Richard Thomas is currently calling for have in fact already been before Parliament.

Back in March of this year in the House of Lords various amendments were debated in the context of the Serious Crime Bill aiming to strengthen the hand of the ICO vis a vis data protection/security. In fact, on 30th April and again on 9th May Baroness Anelay (now Opposition Chief Whip in the Lords but Home Office spokesman at the time) moved specific amendments (relevant debates available here and here) to ensure that the information commissioner would have the right to carry out assessments of data processing on his own volition. And, on 18th and 25th June respectively, Baroness Noakes (Opposition Treasury spokesman) and Earl Northesk initiated debates (here and here) on a similar provision on the face of the Statistics and Registration Service Bill.

In both cases, the Government rejected the amendments pretty much out-of-hand, although (it being the House of Lords) with some small measure of elegance. No surprise there then! Now, I'm not saying that, had they been accepted, the HMRC fiasco wouldn't have happened - though it might have made it less likely. Rather it is illustrative of the culture of complacency and indifference with which government thinking about and policy development of the needs of data security and protection is infected.

In passing I can't resist a barbed dig at the Lib Dems about this. Rationally this whole issue should be their natural territory but, in parliamentary and legislative terms, they give the impression of being completely unsighted about it. Instead - and happily - the Conservatives are making all the running on it with the 'yellow perils' being merely followers. It does beg the question as to what the Lib Dems are actually for if they can't be bothered to prosecute those matters that should be dearest to their hearts and underlying political philosophy. So, reckoning that the Conservatives in the House of Lords have a bee in their collective bonnets about this, is there a realistic prospect that they might introduce a PMB in the near future?