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Have your say on the Data Protection Bill

6 March 2018 (updated on 6 March 2018)

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Do you have relevant expertise and experience or a special interest in the Data Protection [Lords] Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament?

If so, you can submit your views in writing to the House of Commons Public Bill Committee which is going to consider this Bill.

The Public Bill Committee is now able to receive written evidence. The sooner you send in your submission, the more time the Committee will have to take it into consideration.

The Committee will first meet on Tuesday 13 March 2018. It will stop receiving written evidence at the end of the Committee stage, which is expected to be not later than 5.00pm on Tuesday 27 March 2018. However, please note that when the Committee concludes its consideration of the Bill it is no longer able to receive written evidence and it can conclude earlier than the expected deadline of 5.00pm on Tuesday 27 March 2018.*

* In the last Parliamentary Session, the following Public Bill Committees concluded their consideration of the Bill earlier than scheduled: Criminal Finances, Cultural Property (Armed Conflicts), Health Service Medical Supplies (Costs), Neighbourhood Planning, Savings (Government Contributions), Technical and Further Education, Commonwealth Development Corporation, Children & Social Work, National Citizen Service, and Bus Services.

Aims of the Bill

The European Union’s data protection framework is changing from May 2018:

  • the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will apply from 25 May 2018
  • the Police and Criminal Justice Directive (the “Law Enforcement Directive” or LED) has to be transposed into law by 6 May 2018

The Bill has a number of purposes:

  • it sets out how the UK would apply the derogations available under the GDPR
  • it would bring the LED into UK law
  • it would update the laws governing the processing of personal data by the intelligence services
  • it aims to ensure that the UK would be able to freely exchange data with the European Union post-Brexit
  • it would repeal the Data Protection Act 1998.

The Bill would extend to the whole of the UK.

The Bill, Explanatory Notes, and an Impact Assessment are available from the parliamentary website.

Follow the progress of the Data Protection [Lords] Bill

The Bill completed its House of Lords stages and was presented to the House of Commons on Thursday 18 January 2018. The Bill had its Second Reading in the House of Commons on Monday 5 March 2018.

This Bill has now been committed to a Public Bill Committee which will meet for the first time on Tuesday 13 March 2018.

Guidance on submitting written evidence

Deadline for written evidence submissions

The Public Bill Committee is now able to receive written evidence. The sooner you send in your submission, the more time the Committee will have to take it into consideration, and possibly reflect it in an amendment. The order in which amendments are taken in Committee will be available in due course under Selection of Amendments on the Bill documents pages. Once the Committee has dealt with an amendment it will not revisit it.

The Committee is expected to meet for the first time on Tuesday 13 March 2018; it will stop receiving written evidence at the end of the Committee stage on Tuesday 27 March 2018. Please note that when the Committee concludes its consideration of the Bill it is no longer able to receive written evidence and it can conclude earlier than the expected deadline of 5.00pm on Tuesday 27 March 2018.

Your submission should be emailed to scrutiny@parliament.uk.

Further guidance on submitting written evidence can be found here.

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