Mr. Les Allamby:

It is to be hoped that is the case. I can turn off my camera if that helps. I thank the Senator for his question. There are two answers to it. First, the UK Government is undertaking an independent review of the Human Rights Act. At the moment, I do not think there is any suggestion of it leaving the European convention. In fact, it has made very public statements that it does not intend to do so. However, the administrative machinery on the enforcement of rights is very much under review. The Senator is right to keep a weather eye on that issue.

On the justice and security issues, the trade and co-operation agreement was procured on security and justice co-operation. We now need to see how it works in practice. There are some issues still outstanding, especially around civil justice, family issues, cross-Border issues, maintenance, enforcement of judgments and some issues around child abduction and falling back on the European convention. Those are citizens' rights issues on which I suggest the committee might want to focus its attention.

One of my big concerns has been around the data adequacy judgment. The EU has started asking questions around the UK's data adequacy regime. I have some concerns around the direction in which the UK has been moving in how it is gathering data, cyber surveillance and so on, which will become a bigger issue. Do the witnesses have similar concerns? Obviously, if there is not an agreement on the EU and UK sharing data, that has significant implications for citizens' rights.