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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the compliance costs incurred by UK firms operating within the EU of operating under divergent UK and EU data regimes.

On 10 September, the government launched a consultation on reforms to create a new, ambitious, pro-growth and innovation-friendly data protection regime that underpins the trustworthy use of data for an even better UK data rights regime.

Our proposals offer improvements within the current framework, while maintaining the UK's worldwide reputation for high data protection standards and securing public trust. The reforms presented for consultation deliberately build on the key elements of the current UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), such as its data processing principles, its data rights for citizens, and its mechanisms for supervision and enforcement.

Furthermore, one of the principles guiding the government's approach is that organisations that comply with the UK’s current regime should still be largely compliant with our future regime, except for only a small number of new requirements.

An initial analysis of the expected impacts of these reforms has been published on which the government is also seeking views during the 10-week consultation period.