Clause 14
Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [Lords]
12:45 pm
Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington, Liberal Democrat)
I welcome the opportunity for us to examine a new area of the Bill that I hope will allow us, without stepping too far away from its content, to touch briefly on issues that many hon. Members from both sides of the House have raised relating to the use and disclosure of information. Given the Government’s preference for setting up large databases, this may give the Minister another opportunity to jump up and ask, “Are the Liberal Democrats in favour of large databases or against them?” He has to acknowledge that Liberal Democrats, as a party, are not luddites. Therefore we do not necessarily have any objections in principle to large databases. However, we are concerned about the information that is being collected in such databases, the duration for which it will be kept and the controls that exist in respect of access to that data: who has access to it and whether it is appropriate for them to have it, and so on. We also have significant concerns about the potential for large chunks of data to be lost. It is appropriate for the Minister to respond to those concerns in respect of this part of the Bill and to provide some reassurances about the safeguards that will be in place to ensure that these data are managed, the minimal nature of the data that will be collected and the maximum controls to safeguard those data and restrict access to them.
We are becoming an increasingly surveyed society. Although it has not yet been confirmed that we are a surveillance society, with the number of CCTV cameras, databases and different ways of collecting data on people that are being rolled out, any opportunity to try to redress that balance through this Bill as it relates to the use and disclosure of information, including the use and disclosure of customs information, is helpful. I will listen carefully to what the Minister is about to say about the safeguards.