Personal Data (Hansard, 19 April 2000)

§ Mr. Cohen
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what items of personal data his Department routinely obtains from public utilities and other Government Departments for data matching exercises undertaken in his Department. [119529]

§ Dawn Primarolo
The Inland Revenue obtains personal data, under its statutory information powers, from a variety of third parties and collates this data by reference to individual records. It does provide personal data, as permitted by Social Security legislation, to the Department of Social Security for data matching by that Department to prevent and detect crime; to check the accuracy of their information; or to protect public funds.

§ Mr. Cohen
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the compatibility of his Department's data matching with respect to benefit fraud and tax evasion with Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998; what representations he has received on this subject; and if he will make a statement. [119527]

§ Dawn Primarolo
The Inland Revenue obtains personal data, under its statutory information powers, from a variety of third parties and collates this data by reference to individual records. It does provide personal data, as permitted by Social Security legislation, to the Department of Social Security for data matching by that Department to prevent and detect crime; to check the accuracy of their information; or to protect public funds.
582W
The Inland Revenue has not received any representations on data matching and Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998.

§ Mr. Cohen
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what Code of Practice covers his Department's data matching activities; and if he will place a copy in the Library. [119528]

§ Dawn Primarolo
The Inland Revenue obtains personal data, under its statutory information powers, from a variety of third parties and collates this data by reference to individual records. It does provide personal data, as permitted by Social Security legislation, to the Department of Social Security for data matching by that Department. This data matching is governed by their published "Code of Practice for Data Matching".

§ Mr. Cohen
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what items of personal data, not related to PAYE arrangements, his Department routinely obtains from the London Borough of Waltham Forest; and if he will make a statement. [119530]

§ Dawn Primarolo
The Inland Revenue obtains information from the London Borough of Waltham Forest under its statutory information powers. This information comprises all payments for services rendered to the borough, all payments made under grants or subsidies, all licences, registers and approvals and payments under leases and related obligations.