To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the effects of widespread up-take of internet technologies on the capacity of the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 and Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 to provide for the protection of personal data. (200777)

We have commissioned an independent review to consider whether there should be any changes to the legislation governing data protection. The Data Sharing Review, being conducted by the Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, and Dr. Mark Walport, will publish its report before the end of June. The impact of technology was one of the issues covered by the review’s consultation paper and we look forward to seeing the final report. More generally, the Government and the Information Commissioner’s Office keep legislation under review in light of ever-increasing technological changes in the field of data protection.