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Department for Work and Pensions: Information Sharing

Asked by James NaishLabourDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled Answered 5 June 2025UIN 54055

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of enabling data sharing between her Department's systems.

Answered by Andrew Western

Whenever DWP determines to share personal data from one system to another system, several legal and ethical constraints must be considered, especially under the UK General Data Protection Regulations (UK GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018. To comply with UK GDPR principles, data can only be reused if the new purpose is compatible with the original one, there is a lawful basis, we are transparent with individuals about the new use, we only share what is necessary and we protect the data appropriately. DWP already shares personal data between some systems and has the freedom to undertake further internal sharing where it is compliant with regulations.

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