As reported by Wiggin previously, the DPDI, originally published in March 2023, proposes a number of changes to the existing UK data protection regime as set out in UK GDPR. Following its first and second reading in the House of Commons, the DPDI entered the Report Stage and a number of amendments proposed by MPs are currently circulating. These will be debated and then voted on at the Bill’s third reading, which was scheduled for 29 November. According to the Department of Science, Innovation & Technology press release on 24 November, the amendments will cover, amongst other things, new powers to require data from third parties, such as banks and financial organisations, to tackle benefit fraud, requirements for social media sites to retain data relating to a child suspected to have taken their own life, and greater powers for the police to hold biometric data of individuals who pose a security threat.  Further, the most recently-published tabled amendments include provisions addressing the processing of data relating to an individual’s political opinions, a type of special category data, data subject access requests, time periods in which a personal data breach must be notified to the authorities, a widening of the definition of biometric data, and an amendment rejecting the Government’s proposals to reform the rules relating to legitimate interest processing. It remains to be seen what amendments will be finally debated and, of those, which will be accepted by the House of Commons before the Bill proceeds to the House of Lords.

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