Clause 6 - Disclosure of information
Civil Contingencies Bill
4:15 pm
Mr Richard Allan (Shadow Spokesperson for the Cabinet Office, Cabinet Office; Sheffield, Hallam, Liberal Democrat)
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for bringing that to my attention, but the enforcement action that he refers to would be taken against those who refuse to comply with a request for data. I am talking about the person with the data using it inappropriately. So far as I can see, we cannot take action against them. Although people are being asked to do certain things, there are no sanctions.
I take an interest in data protection and the security of information. Quite sensibly, we have a growing awareness of the value of data. When talking about sensitive commercial data, especially in connection with the utilities, some kind of sanction is needed to back up the instruction to the local authority to keep that data secure. It is worth pointing out that there is a gap. I hope that the Minister will respond briefly, but I did not want let clause 6 disappear without having raised the subject.