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Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 28 April 2026

Debate

UK Biobank Data

Contribution

My Lords, I will ask the Minister a couple of questions. This breach has had a silver lining: to remind us that the UK Biobank is a remarkable project and an act of British soft power—and, indeed, altruism—which has been used by 22,000 researchers in 60 countries and produced 18,000 research papers. It really is remarkable; when we beat ourselves up in this country, it is useful to be reminded about the remarkable things we are capable of doing. I described it as an act of altruism, but what is the cost of remedying, as it were, the procedures that led to the breach, and is the cost of the UK Biobank shared by the institutions that use this remarkable resource all around the world, or does it fall entirely on the British taxpayer? Can the Minister also comment on the role of the Chinese Government? It seems to me that we were quick to reach a conclusion when this story initially broke that, somehow, they were involved, but, as is mentioned in the Statement, this was simply a theft that took place in China and did not in any way involve bad faith by the Chinese Government.

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