§ Mr. CohenTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will describe the work that he has undertaken following the publication of the report by the interdepartmental party into the reduction of the bureaucratic burden of registration under the Data Protection Act 1984; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Neil HamiltonThe interdepartmental group which reviewed the operation of the Data Protection Act 1984 disbanded when it had presented its report. Further action must necessarily await the outcome of negotiations on the draft EC directive on data protection, which appeared almost coincidentally with the group's report. However, the report has been a valuable aid in the first round of negotiations. A second draft of the directive is expected to be published in July.