§ Mr. Ashdownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the terms of the instructions under which personal data held by his Department may be disclosed to the police.
§ Dr. BoysonInstructions provide that information may be disclosed on request by the police in a case which involves serious crime. The information, which is given in confidence and in respect of specific named individuals only, is usually given orally. The instructions make it clear that information about a person's medical condition is not disclosed to the police. The Department will also provide information, including the making of a written statement, to the police where they are investigating alleged offences in which the Department has an interest.
§ Mr. Ashdownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will list the personal data held on each person who has a national insurance number, on his Department's general index at Newcastle;
(2) whether his Department can, using the general index at Newcastle, trace the national insurance number of a person for whom (a) the name and date of birth only and (b) the name and address only are given;
(3) whether there is on-line access to his Department's general index from any location outside his Department's certified offices;
(4) whether on-line access to his Department's general index is available to any person other than the staff in his Department;
(5) how many computer terminals have on-line access to his Department's general index; and how many and what ranks of staff are authorised to operate these terminals;
(6) on how many persons personal data are held in his Department's general index;
(7) what is the typical response time for an inquiry made of his Department's general index from an on-line terminal;
(8) how many inquiries have been made of his Department's general index since the computerised system became operational;
(9) how many and what ranks of his Department's staff are authorised to make inquiries of his Department's general index;
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Calendar Year 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 Number of prescription items dispensed (million) 3.676 3.723 3.746 3.887 * Number on general practitioners' lists 583,000 594,000 598,000 603,000 * (10) whether his Department's staff in local offices are authorised to make inquiries of his Department's general index.
§ Mr. NewtonThe DHSS computerised general index at Newcastle holds very brief personal details of each holder of a national insurance number, as follows:
- Surname
- First and second forenames
- Address
- Date of birth
- Sex
Using the general index it is possible to trace records matching a given name and date of birth, or a given name and address. About 53 million records are held on the general index. The corresponding number of people is, of course, less because some have more than one record owing to changes in name—for example, on marriage. It typically takes about five seconds for the system to respond to an inquiry.
The general index is primarily for the use of DHSS staff at the Newcastle central office. However, there is currently an experiment being conducted whereby on-line access to the general index is available to five offices of the Department of Employment. The number of terminals with on-line access to the index is: 135 in Newcastle central office, including Hebburn and Alfred Wilson house: and five in offices of the Department of Employment for the duration of the experiment.
About 600 DHSS staff and 30 Department of Employment staff are authorised to use these on-line terminals. Each operator has access only to specific terminals. Normally tracing is carried out by clerical staff, but a small number of officers in grades up to principal are authorised to access the index. Staff in DHSS local offices are authorised to make use of the tracing facility of the index for the purposes of social security business.
Some 15 million inquiries have been made of the index since it came into operation.
§ Mr. Ashdownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether a decision has yet been made to proceed with the development of a departmental central index, as described in the Green Paper, "Social Security Operational Strategy".
§ Mr. NewtonNo.