Personal Social Services Records (Hansard, 10 February 1997)

§ Mr. Alton
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what information has been obtained by his Department about the policy and procedures adopted by local authorities in respect of access to pre-1989 personal social services records; [13507]
(2) if he will make a statement on access to pre-1989 personal social services records in respect of each local authority for which information is available. [13502]

§ Mr. Burns
Legislation made in 1987 and 1989 gives people specific rights of access to, respectively, computerised and manual records held on them by social services departments, subject to some exemptions. While there is no statutory right of access to information compiled before these dates, the Department's general policy set out in various guidance from 1987 onwards is that authorities should give access to as much personal information as possible.
It is the responsibility of each local authority to implement the Department's policy on access to personal social services records and information on practices of individual authorities is not held centrally.

§ Mr. Alton
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what guidance his Department has given local authorities concerning access to personal records subsequent to, and in the light of, the Graham Gaskin case; [13505]
(2) what is his Department's policy on access to pre-1989 personal social services records; and how that policy has changed since the 1989 judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the Graham Gaskin case. [13504]

§ Mr. Burns
Legislation made in 1987 and 1989 gives people specific rights of access to, respectively, computerised and manual records held on them by social services departments, subject to some exemptions. The Department's general policy set out in various guidance from 1987 onwards is that authorities should give access to as much personal information as possible.
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§ Mr. Alton
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what obligations there are on local authorities to make public their policies and procedures on access to personal records; and how such matters are monitored by his Department. [13501]

§ Mr. Burns
Guidance to local authorities on access to personal records—local authority circular (89)2—says that authorities should publicise the fact that individuals have the right to information subject to certain safeguards and tell people how to apply for access. Authorities should also consider whether special publicity is needed for people unable to speak English. It is the responsibility of each local authority to implement the Department's policy on access to personal social services records and information on practices of individual authorities is not held centrally.

§ Mr. Alton
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he or his officials will seek to obtain the views on access to pre-1989 personal social services records of persons currently seeking access to such records. [13503]

§ Mr. Burns
No. We have asked all local authorities to implement the Department's guidance on access to social services records.

§ Mr. Alton
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what work his Department has undertaken in respect of compliance measures following the judgment in Graham Gaskin's case; what were the number and level of officials involved; what time scale was imposed by Ministers for the work; and what steps have been taken by Ministers in consequence of the work. [13506]

§ Mr. Burns
In their White Paper on open government, the Government proposed to create new rights of access to personal information held by Government and other public sector organisations, and to establish an independent review body to consider any cases where access is refused. This would meet the issues raised by the European Court of Human Rights' judgment in the Gaskin case. The Government are still committed to introducing legislation to implement these proposals as soon as the parliamentary timetable allows.