Viscount Colville of Culross (CB)

My Lords, I am grateful and impressed that the Minister has stepped into this controversial sphere of data management at such short notice. I wish his colleague, the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, a swift recovery. I hope that noble Lords listened to the persuasive speeches that were given across the Benches, particularly from my noble friend Lady Kidron, with her warning about blurring the definition of scientific research. I am also grateful to the Opposition Benches for their support. I am glad that the noble Lord, Lord Markham, thinks that I am threading the needle between research and public trust. I listened very carefully to the Minister’s response and understand that he is concerned by the heavy burden that this amendment would put on scientific research. I have listened to his explanation of the OECD Frascati principles, which define scientific research. I understand his concern that the rigorous task of demanding that new researchers have to pass a public interest test will stop many from going ahead with research. However, I repeat what I said in my opening speech: there has to be a balance between generating an AI revolution in this country and bringing the trust of the British people along with it. The public interest test is already available for restricted research in this field; I am simply asking for it to be extended to all scientific research. I am glad that the reasonableness and lawfulness tests are built into Clause 67, but I ask for a test that I am sure most people would support—that the research should have a positive public benefit. On that note, I would like to seek the opinion of the House.