Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (Disclosure of Higher Education Student Information) Regulations 2009

I, too, thank the Minister for introducing these regulations. We live in an age when data can be collected and stored very easily. This has enormous benefits, administratively and functionally, for recording and planning, but there are also concerns and cautions, as the Minister has laid out. We read too often of personal or sensitive information going astray, with all the dangers of infringement of civil liberties and possible misuse or abuse of information. There is a further concern that data may be inaccurately represented or analysed, with consequent damage to individuals or institutions. I note with interest the noble Lord’s comments on security. The Minister set out clearly that the regulations are designed to help in measuring, monitoring and understanding populations of students, with particular reference to migrant students. The funding councils collect information from the student record of each higher education institution, amounting to some 2.5 million students, a massive amount of data. With these regulations, the Statistics Board would be enabled to share information with counterparts in Scotland and Northern Ireland, purely for statistical purposes. However, we on these Benches endorse the comments that have just been made. Why is all the personal information disclosable if the data are solely for statistics? What assurances can the Minister give that personal information, as listed in Article 4(i)(a), will not be shared so widely as to infringe privacy and personal liberty? We recognise that it may be useful and productive to track the movement of students for demographic or employment or other purposes, but does the Minister agree that safeguards are necessary if we are not to move towards a society where freedom of movement is tracked and, as a result, restricted? Why is disclosure of information required to be backdated to 1 August 2000? We welcome the internal review after 12 months. Will the Minister give assurances that the results of this review will be brought back to your Lordships’ House for consideration? We support the regulations, and with those comments and questions I look forward to the Minister’s reply.