Following the announcement of the General Election on 4 July 2024, there was much debate about which Bills would make it into the “wash up” before Parliament was prorogued prior to its dissolution on 30 May 2024. 

The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DPDI), which was in the final stages of its legislative journey, did not make it into this process. Commentary has suggested that proposed amendments allowing the data sharing between private companies and the Department of Work and Pensions were proving too controversial and therefore agreement could not be reached in time.

The DPDI Bill does benefit from a carry over motion and could therefore be re-introduced by a new government but this will depend on which political party forms the new government and what their priorities will be. It has been reported should Labour be in Number 10, they may well introduce a Digital Bill in the Autumn session but it would focus more on AI and other digital issues, so for those who were preparing for the DPDI reforms it seems as though hitting the pause button over the Summer is the way to go!