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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to help ensure that online registration forms recognise the use of special characters in names, including apostrophes and hyphens.

It is for individual businesses to provide services that are functional for their clients. Any personal data they collect via online platforms must be processed in accordance with the data protection principles. They include requirements to make sure that any personal data held is accurate and up to date and to take reasonable steps to rectify any mistakes that are identified without delay.

In relation to the public sector, the Cabinet Office requires all government departments to make sure central UK Government online services can be used by everyone. This is a requirement of the Service Standard, set and maintained by the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO). The CDDO assesses government services against this standard and the Cabinet Office provides additional guidance on fields which ask for names, stating that they should support all characters, including numbers and symbols.