§ Mr. Arthur Davidsonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what would be the cost of implementing the recommendations in the Lindop report on data protection.
§ Mr. Whitelaw:The cost, which would partly depend on the content of codes of practice designed to regulate the handling of computerised data in the interest of privacy, could amount to several million pounds in capital and revenue expenditure. This is among the factors that the Government are considering in its study of the Lindop committee's recommendations.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list those countries which are restricting data 74W link transmissions to the United Kingdom due to lack of data protection legislation; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Whitelaw:In Austria, Denmark, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Luxembourg, Norway and Sweden data protection laws are in force which could allow restrictions of data link transmissions to the United Kingdom. I am aware of only two instances of refusal of permission to export data to the United Kingdom, both of which occurred in Sweden in 1974. I hope to make a statement shortly on the outcome of my consideration of the report of the Data Protection committee.