§ Mr. Dudley Smithasked the Lord Privy Seal (1) if Her Majesty's Government are prepared to sign on 28 January 1981 in Strasbourg the convention for the protection of individuals with regard to automatic processing of personal data adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 17 September 1980;
(2) whether Her Majesty's Government, after signing the Council of Europe convention on the automatic processing of personal data, will take effective measures to speed up the ratification procedure in order to ensure that it comes into effect as quickly as possible.
§ Mr. HurdMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department is examining policy on data protection. Once his findings are available the Government will consider whether the United Kingdom can sign and later ratify the convention.