Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information) Bill

moved Amendment No. 26: 26: After Clause 5 , insert the following new Clause— ““Commencement and duration (1) Section 1 shall come into force on such day as the Secretary of State may by order appoint. (2) No information may be disclosed under section 1 after the end of the prescribed period. (3) No record of information disclosed within theprescribed period shall be held after the end of the prescribed period. (4) In this section ““the prescribed period”” means the period beginning with the day on which section 1 comes into force and ending one month after the completion of the digital switchover help scheme in the United Kingdom.”” The noble Lord said: There has been much discussion here and in another place about including a sunset clause. The argument was rejected on the grounds that powers granted in the Bill exist only until switchover has been completed and, therefore, will automatically cease. Yet again, we wonder why Her Majesty's Government are reluctant to put things in the Bill. The amendment incorporates the principles that have come out of debate in another place. The heart of the amendment lies in subsections (2) and (4) which would ensure that when the switchover help scheme has ended—up to a month after the digital switchover, according to the Government’s guidance—the power to have access to and share information would cease. The amendment includes a commencement provision in subsection (1). The Secretary of State could fulfil the Government’s wish to link the powers directly to the event of digital switchover by laying an order that would commence the Bill at an appropriate time. In practice, that would need to be quite soon after the passage of the Bill if adequate provision is to be made for Whitehaven. Subsection (3) of the amendment is important. It includes a provision that the information shall be disposed of after the switchover has been completed. It will help to avoid abuse and, as the information is no longer required, should not be any impediment to a smooth switchover. We have the opportunity to set two important precedents; that is, a parliamentary precedent that clears the statute book of legislation that has served its purpose. Following on from that, we have a security precedent that shows that, while government may need access to personal data for beneficial reasons, they take seriously the importance of that data and will cease access once the data have served their purpose. The amendment matches the flexibility of the scheme with the flexibility of the supporting legislation. For as long as it takes to implement digital switchover, which may, as the Minister in another place acknowledged, take longer than advertised, the legislation to enable the help scheme would remain on the statute book, yet the information having served its purpose, will be afforded the greatest possible protection. I beg to move.