HL Deb 01 February 1994 vol 551 cc1187-8

2.51 p.m.

Lord Campbell of Croy asked Her Majesty's Government:

What further measures they intend to introduce to protect individuals from serious errors in data held by credit agencies.

The Minister of State, Home Office (Earl Ferrers)

My Lords, credit reference agencies are subject to regulation and licensing under the Consumer Credit Act 1974. In their use of computerised personal data they are also subject to the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1984. Consumers are entitled to have access to their files and to have incorrect data amended. The present arrangements appear to be working satisfactorily and we have no plans to change them.

Lord Campbell of Croy

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for that Answer. The Data Protection Act is fine so far as it goes. Has my noble friend seen reports and a particular letter in the press about individuals checking with agencies and finding that they hold information which has serious mistakes in it? Surely, it should not be necessary for members of the public to have to check with every relevant agency in order to ensure that there are no gross errors. That is certainly not in the spirit of the Citizen's Charter.

Earl Ferrers

My Lords, I have seen the letter to which my noble friend referred and I agree that it contains some errors. Under the Data Protection Act 1984 computerised personal data must be accurate and must be kept up to date. It is obviously important that these agencies should do that, but the Government cannot be responsible for what agencies keep on their records.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

My Lords, the Minister in his first Answer indicated that he was satisfied with the working of the Data Protection Act. Does he recall that the Data Protection Registrar, Mr. Eric Howe, when presenting his last annual report, stated that he was anxious about the market in computerised data on individuals—for instance, income tax, bank accounts and credit cards—and he asked the Home Secretary to launch a parliamentary investigation? He stated: I have drawn it to the attention of the Home Secretary and it may be that Ministers and Parliament might like to consider a wider inquiry to find out what is this market, how big it is, how easy it is to use". What response has the Home Secretary given to that request from his own Data Protection Registrar?

Earl Ferrers

My Lords, these matters are kept under review and this is, of course, an expanding part of life. If issues are wrong they will be checked. However, one must remember that in 1992 there were 4,600 complaints to the Data Protection Registrar, 63 per cent. of which were referred to credit reference agencies. The files of the agencies cover several million individuals and so the proportion is small.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

My Lords, do the recommendations and worries expressed by the Data Protection Registrar cause no anxiety to the Government? Surely, the answer that there will be a continual review is not adequate to that very specific request.

Earl Ferrers

My Lords, of course they cause anxiety and we are addressing ourselves to that. However, that does not mean to say that it is necessarily appropriate to change the legislation.