Serious Crime Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 109: 109: After Clause 64 , insert the following new Clause— ““Register of information disclosure (1) A specified anti-fraud organisation within the terms of section 61(8), and the Audit Commission in respect of matters referred to in section 65, must notify the Information Commissioner promptly on each occasion when information is disclosed to it by a public authority or other person, unless otherwise directed by the Information Commissioner. (2) A notification under subsection (1) must include— (a) the name of the notifying authority; (b) the name of the person disclosing the information; (c) the nature and quantity of the information disclosed; and (d) the reason for disclosure. (3) A notifying authority must comply with any directions made by the Information Commissioner as to the content of a notification, or as to such further information regarding the information and the use to which it has been put as the Information Commissioner may require. (4) The Information Commissioner may issue such directions for the purposes of subsections (1) and (3) as he deems reasonable. (5) The Information Commissioner shall maintain a register of all notifications received, and may publish it, or parts of it, and may conduct such investigations and publish such reports as he deems reasonable.”” The noble Baroness said: I do many things, but I do not normally masquerade as my noble friend Lord Lucas. I was looking to see whether or not he had managed to be here. My noble friend regrets that due to a longstanding engagement—this is what his note says—he is unable to be present today. He has asked me to move Amendment No. 109 and speak to Amendment No. 111 on his behalf. I shall amalgamate my own comments with those of my noble friend so as not to detain the House too long, and so that my noble friend Lord Northesk can get to his amendment very shortly. My noble friend states that the objective of the amendments is to ensure that a proper record is kept of the use of these powers so that we may make considered judgments on them in future. Amendment No. 109 would insert provisions into the Bill for the creation of a register of information disclosure. Amendment No. 111 would ensure that, prior to conducting each data-matching exercise under new Section 32A in Schedule 6, the Audit Commission must produce a report on that exercise. I shall return to my own comments. We on these Benches believe that these amendments raise, rightly, oversight of the data-matching regime. I hope the Minister will be able to explain exactly what regime there is and how often it will operate. We all recognise that the Information Commissioner’s office increasingly has to deal with more demands upon his time, so it is essential that when we make such demands they are justified. We believe it is right that the data-matching exercise should be seen to be both transparent and accountable. Oversight brings advantages, of course; it would help to prevent and monitor the potential function creep that commentators outside this House are concerned may occur. Amendment No. 111 would also focus the Audit Commission’s minds on whether the data matching it wants to process is justified and proportionate in the way that the Government insist is intended. We have to be wary, however, of any overburdensome, overbureaucratic or costly checking measures. Any monitoring that is carried out has to be done in an efficient and effective manner. I would be grateful if, in responding to my noble friend’s amendment, the noble Baroness indicated what the triggers would be to justify the decision to embark on the data-matching exercise. Will these be decided by the Audit Commission or by the anti-fraud organisations? How will they communicated to the public or even the data subjects? Will the commission announce on its website that it is looking into new areas? These are some of the questions that my noble friend wished to be put to the Minister. It will be important for accountability to show that the data-matching is sustained by proportionate use of powers. We have said throughout that public trust is vital if we are to expand the use of personal data. I agree with my noble friend that it is important to address what could be the unintended consequences of Part 3—they have not yet been addressed by the Government. It is in the spirit of trying to encourage the Government to look more carefully at what could be the impact of the provisions that the noble Lord has tabled the amendment. I beg to move.