Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the data described in the UK Biobank Data Statement on 28 April (HL Deb cols 1117–18) would be considered identifiable human genomic data under the Safeguarding UK human genomic data guidance, published on 2 July.

The Government understands that some of the data described in UK Biobank's statement from 28th April would be in scope of the Government's recent guidance on safeguarding UK human genomic data, however it is for the Information Commissioner's Office to determine if this may be potentially identifiable data. UK Biobank’s dataset is critical in supporting scientific discoveries that improve patient health, and we expect UK Biobank to remain one of the leading health research resources. Government continues to engage with Biobank to ensure that they are working to both protect the data of participants while ensuring that researchers who have a legitimate need to use the datasets can once again resume their research as soon as possible.