HC Deb 15 November 1985 vol 86 cc324-6W
Mr. Dobson

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what costs will necessarily be incurred by a data subject wishing to follow up each individual potentially relevant entry in the data protection register arising from levels of charges permitted under the Data Protection Act 1984.

Mr. Waddington

A data user will be entitled, if he wishes, to charge a fee to a data subject who requests access to information held by the user. The maximum fee will be fixed by an order made by my right hon. Friend but the figure has not yet been decided upon.

Mr. Dobson

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what inquiries he made of representatives of (i) the general public and (ii) those experienced in following up references obtained from very large data bases, before designing the registration provisions of the Data Protection Act 1984.

Mr. Waddington

Views were sought from a large number of organisations representing data users and subjects before and during the passage of the Bill. Since his appointment, the data protection registrar has conducted wide-ranging consultations on the development of the registration process.

Mr. Dobson

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps the registrar has taken to publicise the matters relevant to home computer owners and their possible liabilities under the Data Protection Act 1984 arising from the borderline between exempt personal affairs and registerable business activities.

Mr. Waddington

The data protection registrar informs us that he has directed his publicity towards data users who may have to register whilst taking the opportunity on all occasions to point out the exemption for an individual who holds personal data concerned only with the management of his personal, family or household affairs or for recreational purposes.

Mr. Dobson

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to publicise requirements under the Data Protection Act 1984 to anticipate at the time of registration activities which would be lawful if registered but unlawful if not so registered.

Mr. Waddington

Publicity for the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1984 is primarily a matter for the data protection registrar. As part of his wide-ranging publicity campaign he has issued over 400,000 copies of a guideline booklet which gives detailed advice on the Act and he has recently published a set of answers to questions which are commonly asked.

Mr. Dobson

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff are now estimated to be required to handle entries in the data protection register; and how this compares with estimates given to the House when the Bill was before it.

Mr. Waddington

The explanatory and financial memorandum to the Data Protection Bill indicated that the data protection registrar would initially need about 20 staff. It was made clear during the passage of the Bill, however, that my right hon. Friend would consider sympathetically any requests for more staff and, as a result of discussions with the registrar, a staffing complement of 47 has been approved.

The registrar is reviewing his staffing requirements as more experience is gained and the figures will be reviewed with him from time to time.

It is, of course, the intention that the cost of the registrar's functions will eventually be covered by income from fees.

Mr. Dobson

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the time of the staff of the data protection registrar will be available for supervisory duties over registered organisations.

Mr. Waddington

The data protection registrar informs us that he is now turning his attention more to the supervisory aspects of the legislation. His first estimates are that 25 per cent. of his resources will be available for supervisory duties by the time the Act comes fully into force in November 1987.

Mr. Dobson

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of registrations which will be needed for telephone systems used for business purposes which incorporate memories for frequently used numbers;

(2) what estimate he has made of the number of entries in the register of data protection which will be relevant to any data subject wishing to know where details of his financial affairs are held.

Mr. Waddington

None; but the hon. Member may care to approach the data protection registrar who is responsible for the registration procedures under the Data Protection Act 1984.