The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is looking into the collection of personal data on the government's public internet service after reports Boris Johnson asked civil servants to collect "targeted and personalised" data on users.

A spokesperson from the office said: "The ICO has contacted the government regarding the collection of personal data on GOV.UK in order to fully understand its approach to compliance with data protection law and whether any further action is necessary."

BuzzFeed News reported this week that the prime minister had ordered the cabinet office to turn the GOV.UK portal into a "platform to allow targeted and personalised information to be gathered, analysed and fed back actively to support key decision-making" in the run-up to Brexit.

According to leaked communications seen by BuzzFeed News, Mr Johnson told government departments to send data to the Government Digital Service and "work in partnership so that it can build a single consolidated view of how citizens interact with government through GOV.UK".

The leaked communications show the prime minister's chief advisor, Dominic Cummings, describing the move as "TOP PRIORITY", telling senior officials "we must get this stuff finalised ASAP".


Privacy campaigners raised concerns about the speed of the move, saying that it should not be done without users' knowledge and rigorous checks to make sure data rights were protected - something the government insisted was the case.

A government spokesperson told Sky News: "Ahead of the UK's departure from the EU on 31 October the Government Digital Service is working to ensure people have the best possible experience when they access GOV.UK services.

"All data remains anonymised and no personal data is collected at any point during the process.

"All activity is fully compliant with our legal and ethical obligations under the government's data ethics framework."

Image: Dominic Cummings, special adviser for Boris Johnson

Data protection experts said the ICO would be trying to understand whether the data was collected in accordance with data protection law.

Rowenna Fielding, Data Protection lead at Protecture, said: "The ICO will be seeking to determine whether personal data is being processed, and if so; whether this is being done in a fair, lawful and transparent way.

"A data protection impact assessment should have been conducted, and a lack of evidence that one has been carried out would likely be a cause for concern by the regulator."

This was the second time in a week that concerns had been raised about the government's data collection, after data protection expert Pat Walshe accused it of using Mr Johnson's "People's Prime Minister's Questions" to harvest personal data.

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Participants in the "PMQs", in which Mr Johnson answers handpicked questions from members of the public on Facebook, are asked to provide a name, occupation and postcode.

Mr Walshe said this failed to meet the requirements of Articles 12 and 13 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as "no privacy notice is provided about how that data will be used or (people's) rights".

An ICO spokesperson said: "We are aware of privacy concerns in relation to the People's Prime Minister's Questions.

"Our next step is to seek further information regarding the collection of people's personal data and we will then assess whether any further action is necessary."