HC Deb 12 January 1998 vol 304 cc45-6W
Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what assessment she has made of the Code of Practice on data matching published by the Audit Commission; [22131]

(2) what progress has been made by her Department with respect to the production of a Code of Practice governing the relationship between data matching and data protection; [22130]

(3) if the data matching authorised by the Social Security Administration (Fraud) Act 1997 has commenced. [22132]

Mr. Denham

The DSS Code of Practice is still being drafted. A draft revision will be offered to the Data Protection Register and others for consideration. Data matching under the terms of the Fraud Act will commence after the Code of Practice is published.

The Audit Commission publication was taken into account during the drafting of the DSS data matching Code of Practice, and cross references made where appropriate.