Member

That brings me to my new Amendment 409F, a new clause on data sharing. Ministers may know of the Police Federation campaign #SimplifyDG6. It aims to tackle the bureaucracy around disclosure that sees both uniformed and detective officers tied up for hours. Police officers are required to redact files that go to the CPS in order for it to decide whether there is sufficient evidence to charge an offender. A data bubble, allowing unredacted information to be exchanged between the police and the CPS before a charging decision, would free up thousands of policing hours every year. The noble Baroness, Lady Doocey, mentioned in Committee that this could be achieved by a modest and targeted change to the Data Protection Act, and that is exactly what my amendment seeks to do. There was a reference to the disclosure problem in the police White Paper, which makes me optimistic, and I hope that the Minister will therefore agree to our approach and come back at Third Reading with his own amendment along these lines. There is really no need for further delay.