§ Mr. Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he proposes to make any orders pursuant to his powers under the Data Protection Act in respect of personal information concerning health and social work.
§ Mr. WaddingtonYes. The Department of Health and Social Security will be issuing a consultation paper in the autumn inviting views on the possible contents of an Order to be made under section 29(1) of the Data Protection Act 1984 dealing with subject access to health data. A similar paper on an Order to be made under section 29(2) in respect of subject access to personal information concerning social work was issued on 21 June 1985, and responses to this should be received by 30 September 1985. The responses to these consultation papers will be analysed and will be taken into account in the preparation of orders which I would expect to be made during the course of next year.
§ Mr. Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will now announce the fee for registration under the Data Protection Act.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe level of the fee prescribed for registration under the Data Protection Act will be dependent upon estimates of the total cost of running the registrar's office and the data protection tribunal, and the number of applicants for registration. My right hon. and learned Friend hopes to announce the fee shortly.
§ Mr. Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will now announce the maximum fee which data users may charge to data subjects for the required provision of information under the Data Protection Act.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe provisions of the Data Protection Act giving an individual a right of access to information about himself held on computer will not come into force until November 1987. We therefore consider it too soon to fix the maximum fee which a data user will he entitled to charge an individual applying for access.
§ Dr. Marekasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his latest estimate of the number of 810W registrations required under the Data Protection Act; and how this compares with the estimates made at the time of the passage through Parliament of the Data Protection Act.
§ Mr. Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many registrations he expects to be returned in the initial six months of operation of the Data Protection Act.
§ Mr. WaddingtonIt is very difficult to estimate the likely number of registrations under the Data Protection Act. It was assumed in the early stages of planning that 200,000 applications for registration might be made in the initial six month registration period, with 50,000 applications being made each year thereafter. The Data Protection Registrar has now had the opportunity to review these figures following discussion with a wide range of representative bodies and further study and I understand that he is now working on the assumption that he will receive 300,000 initial applications, with 90,000 per year thereafter. We accept this as the best estimate currently available.
§ Dr. Marekasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his latest estimate of the cost of implementing the Data Protection Act; and how this figure compares with his estimate at the time of the passage through Parliament of the Data Protection Act.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe explanatory and financial memorandum to the Data Protection Bill estimated that the yearly costs of running the registrar's office and the tribunal would be £650,000 at 1983 prices. Discussions with the registrar after his appointment and revised assumptions made then about his workload caused this figure to be reviewed and his current budget for 1984–85 is £1.2 million.
§ Dr. Marekasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department in what ways the Data Protection Registrar will monitor any personal data transferred between Government Departments or other organisations and the police or the Inland Revenue.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe registrar will not conduct continuous monitoring of particular data users. If he receives complaints or if he has any other reason to believe that transfers of personal data are taking place which breach the requirements of the Data Protection Act or of the principles we would expect him to investigate the matter. Should it prove necessary the registrar may apply to a circuit judge for a warrant enabling him to gain access to the data and to any relevant documents. The registrar has the necessary powers to deal with data users involved in a breach of any of the provisions of the Act.
§ Dr. Marekasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy to ensure that; when personal data is transferred from Government Departments or other organisations to the police, such transfers are fully recorded and documented by the recipient police force.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe police will be subject to the registration provisions of the Data Protection Act and we have no proposals to impose additional requirements on them. Each chief officer of police will register under the Act as a data user in respect of the personal data held by him and will be required to describe in his register entry the sources, including Government Departments or other organisations, from which he obtains his data.
811W
§ Dr. Marekasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his latest estimate of the number of staff required to implement the Data Protection Act; and how this compares with the estimate made during the passage through Parliament of the Data Protection Bill.