Liberal Democrat peers have criticised the Government’s excessive retention of personal information.

In a Liberal Democrat led debate in the Lords on Data Protection, Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer, the party’s lead spokesperson on home affairs in the House of Lords, highlighted the dangers of storing large quantities of material on members of the public. The Lords debate followed a government announcement detailing the loss of two top secret, Joint Intelligence Committee documents.

Baroness Miller spelt out the negative impact that losses of personal data have on individuals and public confidence. She argued that the state must properly understand the responsibility it has to look after such data properly:

“At the moment, the UK probably leads the developed world in data loss. The point of the debate is to ask the Government what tools are in place to prevent that loss, whether they are using them and what more tools are needed. We on these Benches believe that the culture must change dramatically before losses of this magnitude stop occurring. As the Minister will know, because he agreed to it, we succeeded in getting a change to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill that gives the Information Commissioner more powers to deal with reckless and careless losses. It is a small step which needs to be followed by many others.”

Baroness Miller detailed the intrusive nature of “CCTV operations, cameras [that] record us in our cars in the street, satellites [that] watch over our homes, police helicopters [that] operate face-recognition technology above crowds and technology [that] now exists which allows tiny drones to swoop in and photograph indoors.”

Her condemnation of a failing approach to data protection was not limited to the Government. Baroness Miller argued that “the private sector has been years ahead in seeing the commercial potential in data collection.” She called for a “robust assessment” of how this information is used and stored.

In terms of public safety, however, Baroness Miller was keen to underscore the Government’s shortcomings. She said:

“Of immediate public concern is the HM Revenue and Customs debacle last year, when the records of 25 million people were lost in the post. There have been further incidents of significant losses from the DVLA and the MoD.”

Lord Roberts of Llandudno also contributed to the debate. He drew attention to the Home Office sponsored, national staff dismissal register. He highlighted the intrusive nature of the database, where employers “can see not only whether there is any criminal record or offence that could be punished in a criminal way, but if there is any suspicion - not proof.” He went on to criticise the potential damage to individuals the database could cause, saying:

“The person might have been dismissed not because of any theft or fraud, but often because of rumours and unfounded suspicion. If we go back to human error, how often is incorrect information or unfounded rumour included in a person’s data? How often is there a miscarriage of justice? When that happens, you may be recorded by one company as having been suspected of something. Maybe the person was a Methodist Minister who preached non-Wesleyan theology - that happens sometimes. Then you are suspected. That can be recorded against you. If you tried to get another job someone might say, “He is not sound; he is suspected of something”. People's lives, and more seriously in some ways, their livelihoods, can be jeopardised.”

Baroness Walmsley also spoke during the debate. She criticised the inappropriate information stored on the national DNA database, saying:

“Britain’s is purported to be the largest in the world. Approximately 2.4 million people have their DNA permanently retained on the [National DNA Database], which is alleged to contain more than 100,000 DNA samples taken from children who have never been charged or convicted with any crime.” 

Click here to read the debate in full.