To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if her Department will introduce legislation to require companies to disclose fully the details of any loss of personal data about their customers as soon as possible after the loss has occurred. (112167)

All data processing that takes place in the UK must comply with the Data Protection Act 1998. At a European Union level, the regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services is currently under review; this review includes public consultation on proposals to require telecommunications network and service providers to notify regulators and customers of all breaches of their data security. The next stage of the review is the EU response to the consultation which is to be published in summer 2007. The Department of Trade and Industry organised a parallel consultation, involving a wide range of stakeholders, to the EU review and responded to the EU consultation on behalf of the United Kingdom on 27 October 2006. The Government will consider carefully the EU response to this consultation and this will help to inform our on-going consideration of relevant domestic legislation.