§ 45 Clause 38, page 28, line 42, after ("29") insert (", (Regulation of financial services etc.)").
§ Of the two amendments, Amendment No. 25 is, of course, the substantive one. It introduces a new order-making power for the Secretary fo State to exempt certain data from the subject access provisions. The data in question are data held for the purpose of discharging statutory functions which are designed for protecting members of the public against financial loss due to dishonesty, incompetence or malpractice by persons concerned in the provision of banking, insurance, investment or other financial services or in the management of companies, or against financial loss due to the conduct of bankrupts. The data may only be exempt from subject access, however, if granting access would be likely to prejudice the proper discharge of the statutory functions. The exemption is, therefore, rather similar to the one in Clause 28(1) and it is designed to ensure that bodies such as the Bank of England or the Registrar of Friendly Societies or the Director General of Fair Trading may carry out the various functions assigned to them for the protection of the public from financial loss without fear that their ability to do so will be hampered by the application of the subject access provisions.
§ Of course. Clause 28(1) may be relevant in some cases, but there may be others where what is at issue is a person's incompetence or dishonesty which may fall short of being a criminal offence. In such a case access by the subject to the data held about him may enable him to cover his tracks or in some other way to frustrate the investigation. There is also a danger that, if access were granted to the subject, valuable sources of information might dry up. Such disclosure might enable a subject to guess who the source was. The financial regulatory agencies with which this amendment is concerned rely heavily upon information from confidential sources and it is therefore important to ensure that the supply of information is not unnecessarily impeded.
§ It is worth pointing out. however, that in almost all cases where information about a subject is acted upon in order to take a decision which affects him the subject has a right of appeal against the decision and 1177 would at that time be told the substance of the information held about him. This amendment is, therefore, designed merely to prevent premature access before a case has been properly established and at a time when access might have adverse consequences for the way in which the regulatory agencies discharge their functions. I believe it provides a necessary protection for the public at large which justifies the infringement which it represents of the subject's right of access.
§ Amendment No. 45 is merely consequential.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said amendment.—(Lord Elton.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.