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“In general terms, the new Data Protection Bill proposals are not unexpected and the GDPR makes a number of exclusions already. Anything that is around national security, public services, criminal justice, and journalism are already excluded to a certain degree, in order to allow the authorities to do their jobs properly, and are in the interest of the public and national security itself. The new proposals are not a bad thing, as it is a good sign that the bill will fall in line with GDPR and we will continue to see the principles applied even once the UK leaves the EU.

“The exemption with this new bill shouldn’t negate the fact that they have responsibilities to protect the rights and freedoms of the data subjects, and will still need to secure it. They will need to justify why the data is being collected and won’t have free reign to do as they wish; and any data handling still needs to be lawful. It’s about having trust and transparency, and ultimately that the wider public and the national interests of the country are being protected. The justification for the way data is collected and handled needs to be done in an appropriate manner, and that’s where the bill and GDPR come into play.”