Data Adequacy Status: EU Data Protection Standards

Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate Excerpts

Thursday 4th December 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the European Commission’s decision of 24 June to extend the United Kingdom’s data adequacy status until 27 December; and what steps they are taking to ensure that the United Kingdom’s new Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 maintains alignment with the EU data protection standards needed for a future adequacy agreement.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business and Trade and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (Baroness Lloyd of Effra) (Lab)]

My Lords, the Government welcomed the publication of the European Commission’s draft adequacy decisions in July, which concluded that the UK continues to provide an essentially equivalent level of data protection. The EU’s six-month extension allowed the Commission to consider the reforms made by the Data (Use and Access) Act. I look forward to the successful completion of the adoption process ahead of the 27 December deadline this year.

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Con)]

My Lords, I am very pleased with that reply from the Minister. What I am mostly concerned about is the loss of the provisions relating to law enforcement, particularly the real-time exchange of information, on which our intelligence authorities and police authorities have historically relied. That is no longer available to us; in what is undoubtedly a very dangerous world, surely that is a priority for the discussions that will take place now and in the future on the whole question of data adequacy with our European neighbours.

[Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord. He brings a great deal of experience over the years in many areas of data protection legislation, anti-money laundering and the security side. Since the UK and EU leaders’ summit on 19 May, we have been working with the EU to increase the safety and security of UK and EU citizens, to respond to shared threats, and to support police investigations, including through enhanced data exchange. We continue to work and meet closely with the EU on these matters.