Written question asked by Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 1 November 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 7 November 2011. It was answered by Mark Prisk (Conservative) on Monday, 21 November 2011 on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Data Protection

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect of the acquisition of Autonomy by Hewlett-Packard on the privacy and security of UK public and private organisations and their data.

Answer: [holding answer 7 November 2011]: It is inappropriate to comment on this particular case, given the ongoing acquisition negotiations.However, Government take the protection of personal data very seriously. There are a number of measures in place to protect UK public and private data held by organisations and these are set out in the Cabinet Office's Security Policy Framework (SPF). Departments are required to seek assurance from third party organisations that they are managing personal data in accordance with these standards.The Information Commissioner takes issues of data protection extremely seriously and regulates and enforces the Data Protection Act 1998.

Secondary information