Ian McKenna: General election is a disaster for advice tech

Prime minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to call a 4 July election is bad news for the advice tech sector.

The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill did not make it through the wash-up of legislation pushed through before parliament was prorogued.

The passage of this bill has been torturous, with the government taking the maximum allowable time in the committee stage before controversially introducing it for its third reading with a mass of amendments. These were accepted because of time pressure but, again, it stalled in the committee stage at the House of Lords.

The bill would have compelled financial services providers to deliver information electronically to any organisation with the necessary regulatory permissions, at least the Account Information Service Provider permissions the Financial Conduct Authority has already put in place for open banking.

It seems inevitable an incoming Labour pensions minister will axe this long overdue and over-budget proposition

This was the second attempt to pass such legislation. The original version goes back to the Boris Johnson administration and was lost when he stepped down as prime minister.

While much of this bill addresses data protection and UK realignment with GDPR, from an industry perspective, the crucial section – part three – provided the mechanism for secondary legislation across all industries to implement smart data.

This was critical legislation to enable delivery of open finance using the consent model already adopted for open banking.

This would have swept away many of the barriers that make it take so long for providers to respond to adviser requests for information. It would have given them a legal duty to respond electronically with any information they hold.

Why would an incoming Labour minister want to put their name to a project that represents nearly a decade of Tory mismanagement?

If many of the powers described above seem vague, that is because section three of the bill was equally clear – discretion would have been given to the secretary of state to design and apply rules.

If the polls are right, we look certain for a Labour administration. It seems inevitable an incoming Labour pensions minister will axe this long overdue and over-budget proposition.

Similarly, the pensions dashboard project. The scathing National Audit Office report into it published last month alone gives a new minister justification to say it’s time for a fresh approach.

Why would an incoming Labour minister want to put their name to a project that represents nearly a decade of Tory mismanagement?

The passage of this bill has been torturous

Pension dashboards could and should have been delivered faster. However, the scope was always too broad. Too much focus has been on a platform to support those in their 50s and 60s, where the most obvious adopters for such a service would be people in their 20s and 30s already accumulating multiple auto-enrolment pensions.

If I were incoming pensions minister, one of my first actions would be to scrap the existing project in favour of a slimmed-down one focusing on auto-enrolment.

The infrastructure to deliver this has been in place for many years. It could be delivered quickly and prove an early Labour win where the previous government had overseen nearly a decade of delay.

This would have swept away many of the barriers that make it take so long for providers to respond to adviser requests for information

Let’s end with some positive news. At the end of May, the McPartland Review of Cyber Security and Economic Growth, written by former security minister Stephen McPartland, provides a long overdue assessment of data security’s impact on the UK economy and why it is crucial all enterprises constantly enhance their security offerings.

Regrettably, as parliament is now prorogued, the government cannot reply to the report. However, it is essential reading if you run a business in the UK.

Ian McKenna is founder of FTRC