§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his Department's policy towards fees for subject access under the terms of the Data Protection Act; how many register entries his Department has; and what would be the total cost to a data subject seeking access to personal data held under all register entries.
§ Mr. PortilloThere is no charge for information held on social security records or for information held on health and personal social services records. In respect of health and personal social services information held by regional and district health authorities (boards in Scotland) and social services' departments of local authorities, it has been left to each authority to determine whether or not to charge for access. The policy for the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys is to give subject access free of charge. The Department has 33 registered entries and the OPCS 42.