§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his Department's policy towards fees for subject access under the terms of the Data Protection Act; how many register entries his Department has; and what would be the total cost to a data subject seeking access to personal data held under all register entries.
§ Mr. EggarIn common with other Government Departments, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (including the Overseas Development Administration) does not propose to charge its employees (including successful job applicants and former civil servants) in its capacity as employer for routine and reasonable access to any personal record. In addition, the Overseas Development Administration has decided to extend this subject access to all personal records maintained on current and retired technical co-operation officers, current and retired supplemented staff, overseas pensioners and prospective employees under bilateral and multilateral technical co-operation schemes. There will, however, be a charge of £10 each in respect of all other applications from members of the public. This fee has been set in accordance with Treasury guidelines on recovery of costs.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has eight register entries, and the Overseas Development Administration one register entry.
The cost to any members of the public of a single search on each register entry where they might appear as subjects would be £80.