My Lords, this pair of amendments, like the earlier group that I proposed, promoted by House officials, concerns another aspect of parliamentary privilege. Unlike the earlier group, these amendments have failed thus far to attract the support of the Bill team and government. Also unlike the earlier group, they relate only to this House, and not the House of Commons. But I shall have to address the issue at a marginally greater length than previously.
As will readily be apparent from the text of the two amendments, they propose that, with regard to a particular aspect of the processing of sensitive personal data, a Member of this House should be treated in the same way as a Member of the other House—or, for that matter, as Members of every other elected body in the country down to the smallest local authorities. There are really compelling reasons why in this context we should be treated on the same basis as elected representatives.
I begin with two acknowledgements. First, I readily concede that, unlike all the other representatives in public life, Members of this House are not elected. I put aside the Minister’s observation in Committee that he speaks as an elected Member,
“albeit with a fairly small electorate”.—[Official Report, 13/11/17; col. 1818.]
Secondly, I recognise that the Bill as drafted would essentially continue the position that has existed for the past 15 years, established under the Data Protection Act 1998 by secondary legislation in a ministerial order which followed in 2002.
The benefit of the particular provisions in Schedule 1 to the Bill which we are now seeking to amend by our proposed inclusion of Members of this House is that it would better enable elected representatives by dispensing in certain limited circumstances with the need for the express consent of the data subject to campaign on behalf of individuals.
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Of course, Members of your Lordships’ House do not have constituency casework in quite the same way as Members of Parliament do. However, it surely cannot be doubted that many Members of this House—the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, whose name has been attached to this group, is obviously one such—do champion individual cases and causes on behalf of a variety of interest groups.
Since the ministerial order of 15 years ago, passed in the wake of the 1999 reform, by which we became a House largely of life Peers, an increasing number of the appointed Members have previously been elected representatives in one body or another, such as the House of Commons, devolved Parliaments and Assemblies, the European Parliament or local authorities. Doubtless, at least partially because of that background, they have been more inclined to pursue various causes.
Consistent with this, an increasing number of Members over the last 15 years have been undertaking activities in support of pressure groups and action groups, including the advancing of individual cases. The Government surely do not now want to inhibit these activities or to discourage or dissuade Members from pursuing these cases. I therefore urge the Government to reflect and, indeed, welcome this new reality and put Members of this House, in this strictly limited context, on the same footing as elected representatives so that they are not henceforth disadvantaged in the discharge of these duties.
Finally, unlike the earlier group of amendments concerning parliamentary privilege, this group relates exclusively to the work of your Lordships’ House. Although the Bill eventually goes from here to the House of Commons, that House will perhaps have little interest in this issue—so, par excellence, the question should be considered here. Even if the Minister will not give ground today—I recognise that he may be under clear instructions not to—I hope he will recognise that there is sufficient force and merit in these arguments to agree at least to have another look at this issue before Third Reading. In that case, I suspect that we will not be pushing it further at this stage.