Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the memorandum of understanding sent from the Cabinet Office to his Department governing the sharing of GOV.UK user data with the Government Digital Service.

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is implementing end-to-end performance monitoring so that GOV.UK can be designed to ensure that people can access the information and services they need as easily as possible. Departments are enabling GDS to centrally collect data on site usage across the GOV.UK estate, to provide an end to end, anonymised view of how people interact with government online. In developing this project, both GDS and departments have taken into account both the data protection regime and other guidance like the Government’s Data Ethics Framework.

Clear and robust Memorandums of Understanding set out the terms of the project. The MOUs outline the responsibilities of both the GDS and departments in a number of areas, including handling the relevant data to ensure there is no unauthorised access, loss, misuse, modification or disclosure.

The MoUs will be regularly updated in line with the government’s commitment to continuous improvement in digital services and best practice in data and privacy standards. It is a long standing government policy to operate in the spirit of full transparency, and GDS plan to publish the document in due course.