Digital Government (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2026
House of Lords · Grand Committee · 2 Sep 2026 · 11 speeches · Official Report
Considered in Grand Committee
Moved by
That the Grand Committee do consider the Digital Government (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2026 Relevant document: 10th Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee
My Lords, these regulations make three important amendments to the information sharing powers in Part 5, Chapter 1 of the Digital Economy Act 2017. The core aim of these regulations is to help the Government to support households facing financial hardship, improving access to support for those eligible and ensuring that public services can respond more effectively to people’s needs. Too often, people do not receive the right support because the information needed to identify them is held by different public authorities. Enabling relevant information to be shared safely and legally will help support to reach the right people more quickly and effectively. On the measure related to the delivery of energy debt relief schemes, Part 5, Chapter 1 of the Digital Economy Act already provides a well-established framework for information sharing to support public service delivery. Under Section 36, specified public bodies can share information with energy suppliers with the intention that the suppliers use the information in connection with a prescribed fuel poverty measure to support households experiencing fuel poverty. None of the fuel poverty measures currently allows this power to be used to support households with energy debt. These regulations will amend Section 36 to create a new fuel poverty measure that will enable information to be shared between certain public authorities-including the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero-and...
My Lords, more than 3 million customers are now in energy debt or arrears, owing a total of around £6 billion, with an average debt of approximately £1,800 per household. No household should be trapped indefinitely by energy debt accumulated during an exponential national crisis. Non-targeted support, as we have seen in the past, has been prohibitively expensive and not terribly efficient. I have called for better information sharing to enable the better use of targeted support by government. The purpose of these regulations is therefore one that we support. They amend the Digital Economy Act 2017 to enable data sharing for Ofgem’s purposes of a proposed debt-relief scheme. The Government estimate that this scheme could clear between £500 million and £1 billion of outstanding energy debt. This is a significant intervention, with the potential to help many households directly. It should reduce the burden of uncoverable debt that is ultimately socialised across all customers’ bills. We welcome the role of Ofgem. The principle of the common framework is sound. We further recognise that part of this instrument corrects an earlier administrative error. The addition of DESNZ is a necessary one. Adding DSIT may also be reasonable if it allows the Government to co-ordinate support more effectively. These regulations authorise an important extension of data sharing. However, they must be fair, proportionate and accountable, and I note the assurances that the Minister has given. The...
My Lords, these regulations relate to the Digital Economy Act 2017, which enables data sharing between public authorities and energy suppliers. The regulations will permit the sharing of information to support the delivery of a debt relief scheme by allowing specified persons to disclose information to energy suppliers for the reduction or cancellation of customers’ debt. The Government have committed to delivering targeted support for households most affected by rising energy costs. The state must help those in need-that is absolutely right-but the reality is that this commitment will do nothing to address the root cause of rising energy costs, which continue to appreciate in part by trying to meet impossible net-zero targets. The most recent contracts for difference allocation rounds held by the Government saw maximum strike prices for offshore wind of £113 per megawatt hour. That is higher than those agreed in previous allocation rounds, higher than the average cost of electricity in the years before and the highest prices in a decade. His Majesty’s loyal Opposition have undertaken the work to tackle the root causes of high energy costs, proposing a cheap power plan to maximise extraction of our own oil and gas resources in the North Sea and to scrap the carbon tax on electricity generation from gas and the renewables obligation subsidy scheme, as well as removing VAT on domestic energy bills. These are constructive proposals endorsed by experts to help tackle the root...
My Lords, I thank the noble Earls, Lord Russell and Lord Effingham, for their support for the importance of tackling poverty and I thank the noble Earl, Lord Russell, for recognising the centrality and importance of data sharing and the way in which that can improve efficiency and the way we can design administratively well-targeted schemes. The level of scrutiny that has been brought is very welcome. The point of these regulations is to improve outcomes, enable government to identify the right households, target assistance more effectively and ensure that support reaches those who need it most. The debt that I mentioned has been building up over many years. It is very much an attribute of what people and households are experiencing, and that is the motivation for this.
Let me come on to the questions about the design of the scheme, which were asked by the noble Earl, Lord Russell, in particular. The design of this debt relief scheme has not yet been finalised and the specific information-sharing arrangements-including, for example, the opt-out processes-are yet to be determined. Similar schemes, such as the warm home discount, have included provisions to allow eligible recipients to opt out of data sharing. The DEA does not require a specified public authority to obtain consent from individuals before sharing information with energy suppliers under the fuel poverty power in Section 36 but all information sharing must comply with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, including the requirement to identify a lawful basis for processing personal data where information is shared on the basis that it is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest.
That is the governance of the privacy requirements, which are carefully constrained to ensure that information can be shared only for these specified purposes and by specified persons. There are criminal sanctions for unlawful disclosure of personal information received under those powers, and a code of practice has been developed to provide guidance for practitioners. There are also requirements for good governance; although I was not present during the passing of the Act under which this operates, I am sure that those strictures were carefully discussed.
On fuel poverty more generally, that is obviously the motivation behind this measure. As the noble Earl, Lord Russell, knows, the Government are taking action across the board to increase energy provision and invest in energy, as well as supporting households through a number of measures to help them manage their bills in an appropriate and targeted way. This instrument is one element that will allow us to do so further.
Motion agreed.