Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether reforms which aim to make the energy market more competitive may breach new data protection rules; and whether they have alternative plans to improve competitiveness in that market.

The Government will ensure any market interventions that are introduced to improve competition in the energy retail market are compliant with data protection laws; for example, our consideration of the interaction between the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the retail energy Midata project.

In addition, Ofgem is taking forward a range of measures, including their disengaged customer database, customer engagement prompts, and the faster and more reliable switching programme to make the energy retail market more competitive. Ofgem has stated that the privacy and protection of consumer information will be fundamental under any such reforms and that they will ensure their reforms are compliant with data protection laws.