HC Deb 02 November 1987 vol 121 c507W
Mr. Cohen

asked the Prime Minister if she will take steps to ensure that Ministers have adequate contact with the data protection registrar during the design stage of major computer projects which process large volumes of personal data.

The Prime Minister

As I told the hon. Gentleman on 29 April at columns133–34, under section 38 of the Data Protection Act 1984 each Government Department is treated as separate from any other Government Department. It is accordingly for individual Ministers to decide how much contact they need to make with the data protection registrar at the design stage of major computer projects for their departments. The data protection registrar welcomes close contacts with Departments in these matters at an early stage.