The All Party Parliamentary Privacy Group was inaugurated at a meeting in Parliament on the 30th March 2009. Its members are drawn from across the parties in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

The canary emblem, as adopted in the inaugural meeting, symbolises the Groups objective to act and raise the alarm to both deliberate and unwitting invasions of privacy and citizens’ rights and in so doing better educate and inform debate.

The Group’s purpose is to:

• Promote interest in and protection of the right to privacy;
• Address key emerging privacy issues in public policy; and
• Promote debate and discussion of privacy related issues throughout Parliament.

You can find more information on the role of APPGs in the UK Parliament, the different subject and country groups, and the officers of groups from the following page in the Houses of Parliament website:

www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmparty/050729/memi01.htm

At the point of inauguration, the group had attracted the support of 35 members drawn from both Houses of Parliament. Further details about members of the Group can be found on the Members page.

At the inaugural meeting, the members present elected the following MPs and Peers as officers for the group:

• Edward Garnier QC MP (Conservative) – Chair
• Lord Peston (Labour) – Vice Chair
• The Earl of Northesk (Conservative) – Vice Chair
• David Heath MP (Liberal Democrat) – Vice Chair

While not a definitive list, some of the policy issues that the group may examine include communications data retention, data sharing legislation, international law enforcement cooperation, identity policy, data protection, vehicle tracking, drug testing policies, DNA retention, communications surveillance, genetic profiling, behavioural advertising, administrative assistance agreements, policing and border and immigration policies.

The group will remain responsive to emerging policy and legislative matters that impact on the right of privacy.

Privacy International (PI) will support the APPG by bringing the key research and researchers into Parliament and will provide administrative assistance. PI works with more than two hundred research institutes, universities, civil liberties groups, international networks, intergovernmental organisations, parliaments, government agencies, companies and foundations.

Privacy International’s financial support comes from philanthropic trusts and charitable foundations, such as the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, the Open Society Institute and the International Development Research Centre.

You can find out more about Privacy International by visiting its website at www.privacyinternational.org