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Data: Storage and Use

My right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Edward Miliband) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. On 21 November, the Prime Minister announced that he had asked the Cabinet Secretary, with the advice of security experts, to work with departments to ensure that all departments and all agencies check their procedures for the storage and use of data. The Cabinet Secretary has provided an interim progress report, which I have today placed in the Library of the House. The report further sets out a number of initial recommendations relating to the framework within which data are handled, which the Government accept. A final report on the work is expected in spring 2008.