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Written question asked by Lord Laird (Non-affiliated) on Tuesday, 3 February 2015, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 17 February 2015. It was answered by Lord Sewel (Non-affiliated) on Friday, 13 February 2015 on behalf of the Chairman of Committees (HL).

Parliament: Data Protection

Question

To ask the Chairman of Committees, further to the Written Answers by Lord Bates on 19 January (HL4242 and HL4243), why it was decided to store parliamentary data on Microsoft servers in the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland; and whether any attempt by the United States authorities to access those records will be made on a mutual legal assistance basis.

Answer

The move to Office 365, which necessitated the storage of parliamentary data on Microsoft servers, was a core part of Parliament’s ICT Strategy to deliver improved services, connecting Members to the information that they need from anywhere, at any time and from any device.

Parliamentary ICT worked in collaboration with the Parliamentary Security Director, the Senior Information Risk Owners of both Houses, counsel, other parties and the supplier to assess the risks of the proposed new arrangements. Any risks in relation to conventional cyber-attacks were assessed to be sufficiently mitigated and the risk of potential cross jurisdictional action was considered to be negligible (for example, under the USA PATRIOT Act) given the reassurances that were received.

It would not be for me to comment on possible or actual activities of another country’s authorities.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL4662
Session
2014-15
Related items
Parliament: Data Protection
Monday, 2 February 2015
Written questions
House of Lords
Parliament: Data Protection
Monday, 2 February 2015
Written questions
House of Lords
Subjects
Data protection Parliament Republic of Ireland USA Netherlands Microsoft
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk