Serious Crime Bill [HL]

I am grateful that the noble Lord, Lord Henley, was able to finish speaking to the amendment; we were worried for a moment that he was going to make himself unwell on the subject. I am glad that is not the case. As he explained, Amendment No. 114 suggests that there should be an express requirement that data matching should not take place unless it is subject to an agreed code of practice. For reasons that we rehearsed when examining earlier amendments, and although we understand that point of view, we must continue to resist that approach and in particular this amendment. I can give the noble Lord one reassurance. It is already implicit that data matching can be undertaken only if a code of practice is in place. New Section 32F places a duty not only on the Audit Commission to prepare a code but on everyone involved in data matching to have regard to it. New Section 32F also requires the Audit Commission to consult participating bodies when drafting this code of practice and any other bodies as the commission thinks fit. We have already discussed the role that the Information Commissioner played in creating the existing national fraud initiative code of data-matching practice. We therefore do not think that this amendment is necessary. It may also be worth underlining the point that if we were to go in the direction in which the noble Lord invites us, the Information Commissioner himself might have concerns about whether his independence was being compromised. I know that the commissioner greatly values that independence. That thinking greatly informs our approach to these amendments, which we think are on the wrong side of the line. We think that we have the balance about right. However, I am grateful to the noble Lord for his amendment. We understand where he is coming from with this amendment; it is simply that we disagree with its general approach.