Peers stand firm as data reforms 'ping pong' continues

The House of Lords has once again voted in favour of adding copyright protections to the Data (Use & Access) Bill – the fourth time the Government has been challenged on the issue – as the proposed legislation continues to “ping pong” between the Lords and the Commons.

First tabled by Baroness Beeban Kidron and passed by the Lords late last year, the changes were then removed by the Government during the committee stage of the legislation in the Commons in March.

Last month, Liberal Democrat MP Victoria Collins reintroduced the amendment to the Commons, but it was voted down before the Bill was passed back to the Lords.

However, it was then reintroduced for the third time, only for ministers to strip it out by invoking “financial privilege” – a law dating back to 1678 – insisting there was no budget available for new regulations.

In this round the Lords have supported yet another revised amendment led by Baroness Kidron, which would require the Government to make a public assessment on the scale of copyright infringement by AI developers and publish a draft Bill.

The amendments – which were waived through with a majority of 242 to 116 –do not propose formal regulations but instead compel ministers to acknowledge the issue and plan out next steps.

While previous amendments focused on direct regulation, this version requires the Government to make a public statement on the scale of copyright infringement, as well as bring forward a draft Bill to improve transparency from AI companies.

Baroness Kidron has called the vote a test of “whether we uphold the rule of law in the age of AI”, urging the Government to stop blocking efforts to protect UK intellectual property.

The minister of state for media, tourism and creative industries Chris Bryant has long insisted that Government wants to wait until the results of its separate copyright and AI consultation – which closed in February – before changes to the law are considered.

The sooner the data bill is passed, the quicker he would be able to make progress on updating copyright law, Bryant insisted.

The stakes are high. If the House of Commons consistently rejects the Lords’ amendments, and the Lords are unwilling to compromise, a deadlock can occur.

The Bill may then fail if it is not passed before the end of the parliamentary session (prorogation), according to Hansard Society. In these cases, the Bill effectively dies and must be reintroduced if it is to be considered again.