Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will take steps to ensure that reform to the UK’s data protection regime is aligned with public attitudes to data regulation.

In September 2021, the Government launched its consultation, “Data: A New Direction”.

This consultation ran for 10 weeks, closing on 19 November 2021 and received almost 3,000 responses. Responses were received from the Information Commissioner’s Office; organisations which represent a cross-section of the UK economy and society, and from overseas organisations.

During the consultation period, the Government engaged with a range of stakeholders, including over 40 roundtables with academia, tech and industry bodies, and consumer rights groups, providing a wide range of views.

The Government has carefully considered these responses and we will publish our response soon.

Furthermore, the CDEI recently published the findings from the first wave of its tracker survey. This will be a vital resource in seeking to understand public attitudes towards data and AI, and the conditions needed to create a trustworthy environment for data use.