Data Transfer (Hansard, 28 January 1988)

§ Ms. Gordon
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what will be the purpose and nature of data to be transferred to Customs and Excise from the Department of Health and Social Security, the Inland Revenue, and the Home Department; and how many data records it is envisaged will be annually transferred from each of these three Departments to Her Majesty's Customs and Excise, broken down by Department;
(2) what will be the purpose and nature of data to be transferred to the Home Department from the Department of Health and Social Security, the Inland Revenue, and Her Majesty's Customs and Excise; and how many data records it is envisaged will be annually transferred from each of these three Departments to the Home Department, broken down by Department.
(3) what will be the purpose and nature of data to be transferred to the Inland Revenue from the Department of Health and Social Security, the Home Department and Her Majesty's Customs and Excise; and how many data records it is envisaged will be annually transferred from each of these three Departments to the Inland Revenue, broken down by Department;
(4) what will be the purpose and nature of data to be transferred to the Department of Health and Social Security from the Inland Revenue, the Home Department and Her Majesty's Customs and Excise; and how many data records it is envisaged will be annually transferred from each of these three Departments to the Department of Health and Social Security, broken down by Department;

§ Mr. Brooke
The information is not held centrally. The proposed Government data network is intended primarily for intra-departmental data traffic. Where interdepartmental exchanges or accesses are intended, use of GDN would not alter the requirement for the Department owning the data to authorise transfer.

§ Ms. Gordon
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what will constitute the transfer of data in an authorised manner on the Government data network; and how many individual civil servants in the Department of Health and Social Security, the Inland Revenue, the Home Department and Her Majesty's Customs and Excise are likely to be able to carry out an authorised transfer of data.

§ Mr. Brooke
The majority of data transfers over the Government data network will occur within a Department, but whether a transfer is internal or interdepartmental, the data owner will still have to authorise it.
The number of staff involved will vary according to the system or application concerned. Information will not be held centrally.