Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that people can effectively exercise their legal right to object to the use of their personal data for direct marketing.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published information on the right to object to the processing of personal for the purpose of direct marketing here: Right to object | ICO.

Anyone concerned about the handling of their personal data by any organisation has the right to complain to the ICO. The ICO has a range of tools to tackle the unlawful processing of personal data, including powers to issue substantial monetary penalties for serious breaches of the data protection legislation. Information about the ICO’s enforcement action can be found at: https://ico.org.uk/action-weve-taken/.