Serious Crime Bill [HL]

Resources are, of course, always an issue. Every time any Minister gets to the Dispatch Box, there is usually a conversation about resources. We are working very closely with the Information Commissioner on making sure that the codes will operate in a way that he deems appropriate. We are working on the procedure that would need to be adopted by all the participating parties, and we are ensuring that his role and ability to scrutinise in accordance with the Data Protection Act are in no way diminished or undermined by any provisions in this Bill. We will continue to do that because we believe, as the noble Baroness and others believe, that this is an important function, which will help us to provide safeguards. I have tried to deal with the general concerns and the debate that we have had, but it might be helpful, since I do not have very much to say, to deal with the amendment. The amendment suggests that therebe a duty on the Secretary of State to lay before Parliament codes of practice relating to anti-fraud organisations and data sharing. I question the need to impose such a duty, because under Clause 61 data sharing will have to conform to the rules of the relevant anti-fraud organisation. In addition,Clause 62 provides safeguards against the further disclosure—the noble Baroness has been concerned about this in the past—of certain protected information that is shared under Clause 61. It seems to me that there is a risk of adding a further layer of regulation to that which is already provided by the Data Protection Act, something that I know the noble Baroness, the noble Lord, Lord Crickhowell, and others have always found objectionable. When processing personal data relating to individuals, the specified anti-fraud organisation and its members will be required to comply with the Data Protection Act. We consider that there are sufficient measures in the Data Protection Act and in this Bill to reassure members of the public about how their information will be used, so we have not been able to see any good reason or need for this amendment. I absolutely understand that, yet again, the noble Baroness rightly is probing to make sure that there is clarity of understanding on how we go forward. The noble Earl, Lord Erroll, made a very interesting suggestion, which we will look at, but one has to see that it would meet the rubric that we have set out on the proper constraints and safeguards. I am not suggesting that we can necessarily do that, but I undertake to think about it.