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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with the Information Commissioner’s Office on the draft direct marketing code of practice; and what steps she is taking to ensure the provision of clear guidance on the types of data profiling use which are prohibited under the UK GDPR.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK’s independent data protection regulator. It has a statutory duty to produce a code of practice that provides practical guidance for organisations on carrying out direct marketing in accordance with the data protection legislation and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003. When the final code is published, it will include guidance for organisations on how to make sure that any profiling for direct marketing purposes is done in a way that is fair, lawful and transparent. The ICO will also make available practical tools alongside the code, to help support organisations in their direct marketing activities.

The ICO has a duty to consult with the Secretary of State and other interested parties on the development of the code and the ICO engaged with DCMS during the consultation phases last year. It will submit the code formally for the Secretary of State to lay in Parliament in due course.