Immigration White Paper

Debate between Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen and Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Monday 5th February 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen (Con)]

My Lords, order. This side.

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

I believe the Government have made a mistake in recent years in understating the scale of immigration and forecast immigration in their planning for health, housing, schools and infrastructure. What annual estimates of immigration are the Government making for the next three to five years—ranges if need be—beyond the implementation period, and how are they planning for the consequences for public services and infrastructure? Will this feature in the White Paper?

Data Protection Bill [HL]

Debate between Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen and Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Committee: 6th sitting (Hansard): House of Lords
Wednesday 22nd November 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)]

I also share the concerns expressed by my noble friend Lord Hunt, based on my experience, both in government and in a number of different businesses. We have the experience not only of the motor sector, which has been talked about, but obviously of PPI, where there was compensation that needed to be paid, but the whole business took years and generated not only claims management companies but also nuisance calls and lots of other harms. This is an area that one has to be very careful about, and I support looking at the drafting carefully to see what can be done, and at my noble friend’s idea of trying to estimate the economic impact—the costs—in terms of those affected. That would help one to come to a sensible conclusion on what is appropriate in this important Bill.

[Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen (Con)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Hunt for explaining Amendment 170A and other noble Lords who have spoken. The amendment seeks to clarify the definition of “damage” provided by Clause 159 and its relationship to the language used in article 82 of the GDPR. This is important because article 82 of the GDPR provides a right to compensation when a person has suffered damage as the result of an infringement of the rights during the processing of their personal data.

Currently, the type of damage that can be claimed is broader under article 82 than Section 13 of the 1998 Act, as article 82 expressly extends to “non-material” damage. As a result, in drafting the Bill, the Government considered that some definition of “damage” was necessary, including specifying that it extends to distress, to provide clarity and certainty for data subjects and others as to their rights under article 82.

I stress that Clause 159 does not seek to provide a wider definition of “damage” than is currently provided in the GDPR, and nor indeed could it. The intention is simply to clarify the GDPR’s meaning. My noble friend Lord Hunt asked what estimates have been made of the financial consequences of the increase in litigation, but as Clause 159 does not provide a wider definition of damage there will be no financial consequence.

The concept of “damage” included in the GDPR reflects developments in case law over a period of some years. As such, I cannot agree with my noble friend’s suggestion that the Bill or the GDPR will suddenly unleash a free-for-all of claims. However, I am happy to reflect on my noble friend’s point that the Bill’s use of the term “other adverse effects” may unintentionally provide uncertainty rather than clarity. With the reassurance that I will go away and look at that, I hope my noble friend feels able to withdraw his amendment.