§ Q4. Mr. Leslie Huckfieldasked the Prime Minister whether he is satisfied with 1622 the co-ordination between the Home Department and Environment Department in the operation of joint computerised filing systems of personal information.
§ The Prime MinisterYes, Sir.
§ Mr. HuckfieldIs the Prime Minister aware that the integration of the police computer and the Department of the Environment vehicle licensing computer represents potentially the most massive agglomeration of personal information information this country has yet seen? As the tyranny of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover in the United States has just ended, what will the right hon. Gentleman do to stop the same sort of tyranny happening over here?
§ The Prime MinisterI see no possibility of that tyranny happening. I hope the hon. Gentleman will not exaggerate. There has always been a relationship between the arrangements for vehicle records and vehicle owner records and the police. When the computer system is developed this can be maintained much more efficiently and satisfactorily. I hope the hon. Gentleman will not indicate that he is opposed to efficient and prompt detection of crime.
§ Mr. Carter-JonesDoes the Prime Minister accept that if there is spare computer time it might well be used for general purposes, such as recording the solution of problems for the aged and the education and employment of handicapped people, so that the problems of the handicapped and the aged are not resolved for the first time every time and we can have a record of the solution of the problems?
§ The Prime MinisterThat aspect of the organisation of computer facilities is primarily a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services. We have the Central Computer Agency at the Civil Service Department, and the job of the agency is to co-ordinate computer arrangements exactly in the way that I think the hon. Gentleman wants.