UK Borders Bill

I rise to speak to a rather different aspect of this matter. The noble Lord, Lord Avebury, referred to the need for some form of guidance on what may comprise non-biometric information, and he seeks from the Government a list so that we can flesh out how they anticipate it will be developed. I have just advised the Bill team that it might be helpful to the Committee if I speak to Amendment No. 26 and group it with this amendment. I had intended that Amendment No. 26 would be taken separately, but given the way in which business is flowing today, that would not be helpful because it could well not be debated until another day. I hope that the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, has had an opportunity to find Amendment No. 26 in the list. I apologise for not having given advance notice that I intended to group Amendment No. 26 here, but it just occurred to me while he was speaking. The noble Lord made it clear when speaking to his amendment that it would be helpful if I were to refer to Amendment No. 26 at this point. The intention is to ask the Government whether any of the non-biometric information could comprise sensitive personal data as defined in the Data Protection Act. The Minister will know from our discussions on other Bills, including those on the Identity Cards Act last year, that we have always been keen to discover which personal data will be registered. Of course, by its nature any registration of biometrics is going to register personal information—it cannot do anything else—but we want to be sure that it will not include any sensitive personal data as defined in the Data Protection Act. If the Minister can give me an assurance in that regard, I will not need to pursue the matter any further.