HC Deb 10 June 1991 vol 192 cc404-6W
Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will list the organisations that have replied to his consultation exercise in relation to the proposal by the European Commission for a data Protection directive.

Mrs. Rumbold

The following organisations have responded to our consultation exercise:

  • The Advertising Association
  • American Express
  • The Association of British Chambers of Commerce
  • Association of British Insurers
  • The Association of British Travel Agents
  • Association of Chief Police Officers
  • The Association for Information Management (ASLIB)
  • Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS)
  • Barclays Bank plc
  • The Booksellers Association of Great Britain and Ireland
  • British Bankers Association
  • The British Broadcasting Corporation
  • The British Computer Society
    • 405
  • British Dental Association
  • The British Direct Marketing AT0
  • British List Brokers Association
  • British Medical Association
  • British Telecom
  • CCN Credit Systems
  • The Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (ACCA)
  • Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the Universities of the United Kingdom
  • Confederation of British Industry
  • Confederation of Information Communication Industries
  • Consumer Credit Trade Association
  • Consumers Association
  • Consumers in the European Community Group (UK)
  • Council of Mortgage Lenders
  • The Office of Data Protection Registrar
  • Direct Mail Services Standards BD0
  • European Association of Information Services (EUSIDIC)
  • Finance Houses Association
  • Independent Television Association (ITV)
  • Industry Forum on Data Protection
  • The Institute of Chartered Accountants
  • The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland
  • Institute of Credit Management
  • The Institute of Information Scientists
  • The Institute of Internal Auditors—UK
  • Institute of Personal Management
  • The International Stock Exchange of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland
  • The Law Society
  • The Law Society of Northern Ireland
  • The Law Society of Scotland
  • The Library Association
  • Local Government Training Board
  • The Mail Order Traders AT0
  • The Market Research Society
  • National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux
  • The National Audit Office
  • National Book Committee
  • The National Computing Centre Ltd.
  • The National Consumer Council
  • The National Consumer Credit FT0
  • National Council for Civil Liberties (Liberty)
  • National Council for Voluntary Organisations
  • National Westminster Bank plc
  • The Newspaper Society
  • Periodical Publishers Association
  • The Retail Consortium
  • Securities and Investments Board
  • Trustee Savings Bank Group plc

Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will make a statement on the reasons for the Government's opposition to the European Commission's proposals for a data protection directive in relation to(a) the distinction between personal data held in the public and private sector, (b) the supervision of the personal data held by security services, (c) the seeking of data subject consent and (d) the additional individual rights proposed in the directive; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs. Rumbold

In large-scale, technically advanced societies both public and private sector organisations need to collect and computerise information about individuals in order effectively to discharge administrative and commercial functions in the public interest. The Government believe that data protection law should recognise this, and guard against damage to individual's interests through misuse of data rather than place unnecessary obstacles in the way of normal use.

The Government therefore see no justification for treating either public or private sector use of data as intrinsically less desirable; nor do they believe that a proper balance would be struck between data user and data subject by requiring, for example, automatic notification and consent procedures. More generally, they believe that, under the new approach to harmonisation, single market measures should be confined to minimum essential requirements; they note that the activities of the security services lie outside the treaty of Rome. The Government would be prepared to support data protection harmonisation measures based more closely on the existing Council of Europe convention for the protection of individuals with regard to automatic processing of personal data.

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