In the King’s speech on Wednesday, the Digital Information and Smart Data Bill (DISD) was one of the 40 legislative plans announced by the Labour government. The government’s background briefing paper outlines the Bill’s aims to harness data to drive economic growth, improve sharing data in public services, promote scientists' and researchers' work, and empower the regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), in its enforcement of data laws.
So how does Labour intend to achieve these aims? And how does this Bill differ from the previous Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DPDI) under the Conservative-led government? The DPDI Bill failed to pass during the ‘wash-up’ period prior to parliament dissolving in advance of the general election in July.
Economic Growth
The Labour government is prioritising utilising data to drive economic growth and they propose to do this by giving statutory footing to the following:
Digital Verification Services: to support “the creation and adoption of secure and trusted digital identity products and services from certified providers to help with things like moving house, pre-employment checks, and buying age-restricted goods and services”. This is aimed to encourage people and businesses to further utilise identity-checking services and expand the use of these services into markets beyond retail banking, where it is currently used for credit checks and account management. The proposal for a regulatory framework for digital verification services was also previously included in the DPDI Bill.
National Underground Asset Register: proposes a new digital map for how the pipes and cables underground are installed, maintained, operated, and repaired, by giving planners and excavators more efficient ways of accessing the data they need to carry out this work.
Smart Data Schemes: setting up schemes to allow for “the secure sharing of a customer’s data upon their request, with authorised third-party providers”. The government uses Open Banking as an example comparable to a Smart Data scheme. Open banking is when you share your data with authorised third parties, for example, financial management apps to manage all your accounts in one place. This proposal aims to empower customers use of their data, drive engagement with markets, and enable businesses to innovate how they handle and share customer data. The DPDI Bill also proposed similar provisions to enable access to customer data and business data.
Public Services
Labour intends to revise the Digital Economy Act to help the Government share data about businesses that use public services. For example, the Government proposes moving to an electronic system for the registration of births and deaths and implementing information standards for IT suppliers in the health and social care systems. Facilitating the disclosure of information to improve public service delivery was also a feature of the DPDI Bill.
Scientists and Researchers
The Bill proposes updating or clarifying data laws to allow for scientists to ask for broad consent for areas of scientific research and allow legitimate researchers doing scientific research in commercial settings to make equal use of our data regime. The previous DPDI Bill also suggested expanding the definition of scientific research to any processing which was “publicly or privately funded and whether carried out as a commercial or non-commercial activity”, which appears similar to the proposals by the DISD Bill.
ICO
The Bill suggests granting increased powers to the ICO and modernising its regulatory structure by appointing a CEO, board, and chair. The DPDI Bill suggested a similar shift in the ICO’s powers and model and proposed additional powers to the Secretary of State in regulating the ICO’s board and setting priorities and enforcement objectives.
Overall, the proposals within the DISD Bill are not entirely new and are similar to some of those proposed in the DPDI Bill. For example, the proposals to relax restrictions on processing personal data for scientific research purposes and to modernise and strengthen the ICO. However, the DPDI Bill proposed a whole raft of other changes that do not seem to have been picked up in the DISD Bill: the most notable being reduced reporting requirements, changes to the definition of personal data, expanding the use of legitimate interest and scrapping the role of Data Protection Officers. It remains to be seen whether such provisions will be picked up in the future but for now, organisations processing personal data should continue to plan compliance plans in line with current legislation.
Given the extent of changes proposed by the DPDI Bill, it attracted criticism for threatening too much of a departure from EU data protection standards, which our current regime largely mirrors. Should the DPDI Bill have passed, it would have been interesting to have seen its influence on the EU-UK adequacy decision, which is due for renewal in June 2025. The EU-UK adequacy decision enables the free flow of data sharing between the EU to the UK on the basis the UK is deemed to have safeguards in place appropriate to the EU GDPR standard. Having an adequacy decision makes the sharing of data between the EU and the UK pretty straightforward, without which the transfer of data between the UK/EU would become far more complex. Naturally, this could impact the willingness of EU organisations to work with UK organisations and shrink economic growth rather than drive it forward. Many may view the DISD Bill as less threatening to the forthcoming renewal of the EU/UK adequacy decision and see this as a positive step for the UK economy.
The Bill also plans to reform data laws where there is a lack of clarity around safely developing new technologies. This may refer to additional regulation surrounding rapidly emerging AI technologies, which are currently not subject to any AI-specific legislation in the UK. Interestingly, while AI was briefly mentioned, there was no specific commitment to introduce specific AI legislation in the King’s speech, which was predicted to be a focus for the new Labour government, but perhaps this is to come later. Please see our blog on AI regulation under a Labour government for more information.
As always, the devil is in the detail, and it will be interesting to read the Bill once published.
