Serious Crime Bill [HL]

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 37. We made a number of small amendments to the data sharing and data matching provisions of the Bill during its passage through the other place. The first and most substantial of those is to introduce a requirement on the Secretary of State to produce a code of practice governing the disclosure of information by public authorities for the prevention of fraud. That measure was introduced on the basis of a suggestion made by the Information Commissioner. A minor and technical amendment was made to the extent of the code of practice so that it included the correct exclusions for devolved Scottish public authorities. Three minor technical amendments were made to the data matching provisions in committee in the Commons. The amendments simply clarified the definition of ““relevant NHS body”” so that it captured all relevant health bodies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Again, I offer to respond to any specific points and questions raised, but there are no new policy implications in the amendments. There are some new safeguards involved, particularly by virtue of the code of practice. We had some useful discussions with the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, over the summer period, when many of the contentious issues that may have arisen were happily dealt with in correspondence and conversation to the satisfaction of the noble Baroness. Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 37.—(Lord Bassam of Brighton.)