Select committee: Foreign Affairs Committee
Conclusion 3
Third report - Encoding values: Putting tech at the heart of UK foreign policy
Published 8 Jul 2022
Paragraph 13
Addressed to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Foreign Affairs Committee Tech and the future of UK foreign policy All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The UK should work with allies to ensure global practice in frameworks designed to protect data, and to prevent our adversaries exporting data from around the world to build the massive data sets needed to develop algorithms to automate surveillance systems, military systems and disinformation systems. We need to think about data as a national security asset, which should be subject to an appropriate regime of export controls. Placing greater controls on the collection, aggregation and access to data available to China is a good first step to eliminating an obvious national-security vulnerability.
From: Foreign Affairs Committee, Third report - Encoding values: Putting tech at the heart of UK foreign policy (HC 170), paragraph 13, 8 July 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 24 October 2022 (deadline 8 September 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it "agrees with the Committee's recommendations for the FCDO" on developing international technology policy, while setting out its approach mainly through the forthcoming International Technology Strategy.
- On the growing influence of private companies, it "accept[s] the Committee's assessment" and says FCDO is expanding its Tech Envoy network to increase engagement with tech companies in different regions.
- On export controls and data, it agrees that data challenges are "a national security liability" but says it does "not believe introducing disproportionate restrictions on data transfers is the right response".
- On FCDO skills, it agrees on the need to "upskill our staff" and commits that FCDO "will also establish a secondment programme with the tech sector", with no date stated.
- On metrics, it "recognise[s] the importance" of them, says performance metrics will sit in an internal implementation plan, and says FCDO "will publish in its annual report and accounts" information on international technology partnerships.