Baroness Kidron (CB)

I cannot compete with that tour de force. I shall speak to Amendments 73 and 75 in the name of noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, to which I have added my name, Amendments 76, 83 and 90 on the Secretary of State’s powers and Amendments 85 and 86 to which I wish I had added my name, but it is hard to keep up with the noble Lord. I am in sympathy with the other amendments in the group. The issue of recognised legitimate interest has made a frequent appearance in the many briefings I have received and despite reading the Explanatory Notes for the Bill several times, I have struggled to understand in plain English the Government’s intent and purpose. I went to the ICO website to remind myself of the definition of legitimate interest to try to understand why recognised legitimate interest was necessary. It states: “Legitimate interests is the most flexible lawful basis for processing, but you cannot assume it will always be the most appropriate.” and then goes on: “If you choose to rely on legitimate interests, you are taking on extra responsibility for considering and protecting people’s rights and interests.” That seems to strike a balance between compelling justifications for processing and the need to consider and protect individual data rights and interests. I would be very interested to hear from Minister why the new category of “recognised legitimate interest” is necessary. Specifically, why do the Government believe that when processing may have far-reaching consequences, such as national security, crime prevention and safeguarding, there is no need to undertake a legitimate interest assessment? What is the justification for the ability of any public body to demand that data from private companies for any purpose? I ask those questions to be precise about the context and purpose.