§ Mr. Allan Robertsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what plans his Department has, or what proposals he is considering, for increasing the amount of personal information stored on computer about claimants and all members of the population with a national insurance number.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe Department seeks to use the most secure, efficient and cost-effective methods—computer or non-computer—for holding any necessary personal information. The taxation of benefits for the unemployed and pilot scheme to enable certain local office benefits to be paid automatically will involve additional computer-held claimant information. The introduction of automated credit transfer will involve holding bank account numbers on computer. It is also hoped to computerise FIS payment records. For longer-term proposals involving the use of computers, I refer the hon. Member to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Somerset, North (Mr. Dean) on 8 December 1980.—[Vol. 995, c.493–95.]