HL Deb 29 June 1984 vol 453 cc1177-9

26 Clause 31, page 23, line 17, leave out from ("user") to end of line 25 and insert ("only for one or more of the following purposes—

  1. (a) calculating amounts payable by way of remuneration or pensions in respect of service in any employment or office or making payments of, or of sums deducted from, such remuneration or pensions; or
  2. (b) keeping accounts relating to any business or other activity carried on by the data user or keeping records of purchases, sales or other transactions for the purpose of ensuring that the requisite payments are made by or to him in respect of those transactions or for the purpose of making financial or management forecasts to assist him in the conduct of any such business or activity.")

27 Clause 31, page 23, line 30, leave out ("that for which they are held or") and insert ("the purpose or purposes for which they are held and are not")

28 Clause 31, page 23, line 31, leave out from ("(3)") to ("for") in line 36 and insert ("and (4) below; but the exemption shall not be lost by any use or disclosure in breach of that condition if the data user shows that he had taken such care to prevent it as in all the circumstances was reasonably required. (3) Data held only for one or more of the purposes mentioned in subsection (1)(a) above may be disclosed—

  1. (a) to any person, other than the data user, by whom the remuneration or pensions in question are payable;
  2. (b) for the purpose of obtaining actuarial advice;
  3. (c) for the purpose of giving information as to the persons in any employment or office for use in medical research into the health of, or injuries suffered by, persons engaged in particular occupations or working in particular places or areas;
  4. (d) if the data subject (or a person acting on his behalf) has requested or consented to the disclosure of the data either generally or in the circumstances in which the disclosure in question is made; or
  5. (e) if the person making the disclosure has reasonable grounds for believing that the disclosure falls within paragraph (d) above.

(4) Data held for any of the purposes mentioned in subsection (1) above may be disclosed—

29 (a") Clause 31, page 23, line 39, at end insert (";or")

30 Clause 31, page 23, line 40, leave out from beginning to first ("in") in line I on page 24 and insert ("(b)").

Lord Elton

My Lords, I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 26 to 30, en bloc, which all touch on Clause 31.

Although these amendments appear to amount almost to a complete redrafting of Clause 31 I think I can reassure the House that they raise no fundamental issues. Your Lordships will recall that Clause 31 provides an exemption, subject to certain conditions being met, for data held for payroll and accounting purposes. Amendment No. 26 makes some changes to what are, in effect, the definitions of payroll and accounting data. Subsection (1)(a) is amended not only to refer to data held for the purpose of making payments of remuneration and pensions but also for the purpose of making payments of deductions from remuneration and pensions—for example, PAYE deductions or trade union subscriptions. Subsection (1)(b) is also amended to cover data which are held for what has become known as "management accounting" purposes—that is, basically accounting data which are used to make financial or management forecasts.

Amendment No. 27 is designed simply to avoid ambiguity and to make it clear that data may be held for one or any combination of the purposes described in subsection (1) and still claim the benefit of the exemption, while Amendment No. 28 makes a number of changes. The first of these makes it clear that a data user does not lose the benefit of the exemption if data are used or disclosed in breach of the conditions attached to it if he can show that he had taken such care as was reasonably required to prevent the breach. That is a normal provision.

Second, the amendment allows payroll data to be disclosed for the purpose of obtaining actuarial advice. This amendment was prompted by various organisations who deal with pension funds and who quite legitimately need to disclose payroll data for this purpose. Without this amendment a user would have had to forgo the exemption in order properly to make his pension arrangements.

Third, the amendment allows payroll data to be disclosed for the purposes of medical research. Apparently researchers sometimes need payroll data in order to identify people working in particular occupations, or perhaps in particular areas, who might be prone to certain illnesses. Again, without this amendment, a user would not be able to claim the exemption and co-operate with medical researchers. We certainly do not want to hinder medical research and, since the data being disclosed will not themselves be sensitive health data but will probably be little more than names and addresses, it seems sensible to allow them to be disclosed without requiring the user to register.

Finally, the amendment allows data to be disclosed if the person making the disclosure has reasonable grounds for believing that disclosure is to the data subject or a person acting on his behalf, or if he has reasonable grounds for believing that the subject has requested or consented to the disclosure. If this amendment were not made, a user who disclosed data in good faith to a person he mistakenly believed to be the subject would lose the benefit of the exemption and find himself committing the absolute offence of Clause 5(1) of holding data without being registered.

Amendments Nos. 29 and 30 are consequential and drafting amendments. I believe that this rather formidable group of amendments will ensure that the exemptions in Clause 31 are wide enough to be of real value while not going so wide as to represent an unacceptable weakening of the data protection scheme. I commend them to your Lordships.

Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said amendments.—(Lord Elton.)

Lord Mishcon

My Lords, I think that the noble Lord the Minister knows there are bodies which feel that the exemptions in respect of payrolls and accounts have been substantially extended by this amendment. He may also know that the Trades Union Congress has made certain representations in this connection. However, I need not worry him any further in that regard because I am aware that their submissions are known to the Government. I do not think that I should have much success if I endeavoured at this stage to do anything about this amendment, but I thought it only proper to put that on record in view of the observations that the noble Lord made about the possible general acceptability of the amendment.

On Question, Motion agreed to.