The Data (Use and Access) Bill [HL] is scheduled to have its second reading in the House of Lords on 19 November 2024. The government has said the bill has three core objectives: to grow the economy, improve public services and make people’s lives easier. It would seek to achieve those aims through measures such as:
- paving the way for the ‘smart data’ model to be used in more sectors
- establishing a trust framework for digital verification services
- placing the national underground asset register on a statutory footing
- enabling births and deaths to be registered electronically
- applying information standards to IT services within health and social care to make patients’ data more easily transferrable across the NHS
- removing the requirement for police to log a justification each time they access someone’s personal data
The bill would deliver on Labour’s manifesto commitment to give coroners more powers to access information held by technology companies after a child’s death. It would make changes to the UK’s data protection legislation, for example by creating a new lawful ground for processing personal data of “recognised legitimate interests” and expanding the lawful base for the use of solely automated decision-making. The bill would change the governance model of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
The bill contains many provisions that are similar or identical to ones in the Conservatives’ Data Protection and Digital Information Bill that failed to complete all its stages before the general election. However, some provisions have been removed, including those which would have allowed the government to oversee the ICO’s strategic priorities and make recommendations on ICO codes, and which would have modified the current requirements for data protection officers and keeping records of personal data processing. Labour’s bill contains some new provisions such as a regulation-making power to create a framework allowing researchers access to data relating to online safety held by tech companies.
