A new Data (Use and Access) Bill has been introduced to the UK parliament with the aim of unlocking the secure and effective use of data for the public interest. This follows previous attempts at amending UK data protection law under the previous government.
Improving public services
The Bill aims to use the power of data to relieve front-line workers in the NHS and police forces across the country from bureaucracy and enable them to better serve the public.
For the police, the Bill aims to remove unnecessary manual logging requirements whenever accessing personal data to work on a case, for example every time an officer needs to look up a suspect or person of interest on the police database.
The legislation also aims to ensure that healthcare information can be easily accessed across all NHS services, regardless of what IT system they are using. It will require IT suppliers for the health and care sector to ensure their systems meet common standards to enable data sharing across platforms.
The Bill will also support the future of open banking and the growth of new smart data schemes, models which allow consumers and businesses who want to safely share information about them with regulated and authorised third parties, to generate personalised market comparisons and financial advice. The government hopes that this model will expand into sectors like energy, which could give customers the ability to compare utility prices, find better deals, and reduce their energy use, as well as foster tech innovation and boost competition.
The Bill will also put the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR) on a statutory footing, mandating that owners of underground infrastructure, such as water companies or telecoms operators, register their assets on the NUAR, which is a complete map of underground pipes and cables.
Making peoples lives easier
The Bill will legislate on digital verification services, meaning companies who provide tools for verifying identities will be able to gain government certification and use a “trust mark”. The trust mark will be a new logo to show digital verification services are approved by the new Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA) within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
The aim is also that the Bill paves the way towards modernising the registration of deaths in England and Wales from a paper-based system to an electronic birth and death register. It will enable registrations with local authorities, to be carried out over the phone, removing the need for face-to-face registration.
Access to data for research into online safety
The Bill will also boost the UK’s approach to tackling online harms through a power to create a researcher data access regime. This will support researchers in accessing data held by online platforms so they can conduct robust and independent research into online safety trends. This aims to boost transparency and evidence on the scale of online harms and the measures which are effective in tackling them. This will be done by an amendment to the Online Safety Act 2023.
The ICO has published a statement on the Bill, saying “we welcome the introduction of the Data Use and Access Bill in the House of Lords and look forward to seeing it progress through parliament to Royal Assent. This is an important piece of legislation which will allow my office to continue to operate as a trusted, fair and independent regulator and provide certainty for all organisations as they innovate and promote the UK economy. Our response to the bill will be published in due course.”
Second reading is yet to be scheduled.
The government has published three factsheets on the Bill: on growing the economy, improving public services and on making lives easier.
