§ Q10. Mr. Leslie Huckfieldasked the Prime Minister who is responsible for the maintenance of standards of privacy and confidentiality in the storage of personal information in Government departments' computer databanks.
§ The Prime MinisterThe Minister in charge of the Department concerned.
§ Mr. HuckfieldI still have not received an answer, but I shall continue to seek it. Is it not about time that the Minister was identified, because, in a recent Civil Service Department report of 182 pages, there were only five lines tucked away in an appendix, on the security of files? Therefore, will the Prime Minister try to identify the Minister and tell him to re-examine that report and the whole question of file security?
§ The Prime MinisterPrivacy and confidentiality in Government Departments is concerned not only with computers but with the whole of the activity of the Government so far as it affects personal 1363 records. It is essential that we should always keep this in the forefront of our minds. Therefore, the Minister responsible for a Department must be responsible for privacy and confidentiality throughout all the activities of his Department, which includes the use of computers.