§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
On what grounds they consider that Clause 20 of the Immigration and Asylum Bill is compatible with the right to respect for personal privacy and the data protection principles prescribed by the European Union Directive 95/46 EC. [HL4284]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Bassam of Brighton)The purpose of Clause 20 is to ensure that, where a registrar has formed reasonable suspicions about the genuine nature of a marriage, these are passed on to the Home Office for further investigation. Policy needs to reflect both the individual's right to privacy and the need to maintain the effectiveness of the immigration control. If there exists a suspicion that a marriage may be a sham, deliberately contracted to facilitate a false application for leave to remain in the United Kingdom, it is right that some investigation52WA should be made into the circumstances of that marriage application. The Data Protection Act 1998 gives effect to Directive 95/46/EC and comes into force on 1 March 2000. Both the 1984 and 1998 Data Protection Acts provide an exemption which allows for the disclosure of information where there is a statutory requirement, which Clause 20 provides.