HC Deb 22 April 2002 vol 384 cc65-6W
Matthew Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what the longest period of time elapsed is between receiving(a) the administration fee and providing the information requested and (b) a request for information and providing the information requested, under the Data Protection Act 1998; [33455]

(2) what administration fees are charged by the Department for information requests made under the Data Protection Act 1998; [33462]

(3) what percentage of responses to requests for information under the Data Protection Act 1998 the Department has completed (a) within 40 days of receipt of the £10 fee, (b) between 40 and 60 days of and (c) over 60 days after receiving the administration fee. [33469]

Mr. McCartney

Such information is available as follows.

The longest period of time elapsed is between a request for information and providing the information requested is over 120 days.

The Department currently only records elapsed time for clearing requests in periods of 20 days i.e. 40–60 days, 60–80 days. This information is only available for requests recorded from 24 October 2001.

We do not charge an administration fee for information requests made under the Data Protection Act 1998.

From 1 March 2000 to 23 October 2001 the Department has responded to 91.40 per cent. of requests within 40 days and 8.60 per cent. over 40 days.

From 24 October 2001 to 31 December 2001 the Department has responded to 92.33 per cent. of requests within 40 days; 7.40 per cent. over 40 days and 27 per cent. over 60 days.

Matthew Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many responses to requests for information under the Data Protection Act 1998 have been completed(a) within 40 days, (b) between 40 and 60 days and (c) over 60 days after receiving the original letter; and how many are outstanding; [33571]

(2) how many responses to requests for information under the Data Protection Act 1998 the Department has completed (a) within 40 days of receipt of, (b) between 40 and 60 days of receiving and (c) over 60 days after receiving the £10 administration fee. [33564]

Mr. McCartney

From 1 March 2000 to 23 October 2001 the Department has responded to 5,604 within 40 days; 529 over 40 days and none over 60 days.

From 24 October 2001 to 31 December 2001 the Department has responded to 989 within 40 days; 81 over 40 days and nine over 60 days.

At 31 December 2001 there were 530 SARs outstanding throughout the Department.

Matthew Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many requests the Department has received under the Data Protection Act 1988 for(a) electronically held information and (b) paper documentation; [33583]

(2) how many responses the Department has completed to requests for information made under the Data Protection Act 1998 for (a) electronically held information and (b) paper documentation. [33576]

Mr. McCartney

Between 1 March 2000, when the Data Protection Act came into force with respect to electronically held data, and 23 October 2001 the Department received and completed 6,825 subject access requests.

The Act extended rights to clerical data on 24 October 2001 and since then (up to 31 December 2001) the Department has received 320 requests for clerical data only; 107 requests for electronic data only; and 652 requests for both clerical and electronic data.

Matthew Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the period of time elapsed is for the oldest outstanding request for information under the Data Protection Act 1998, since receipt of the(a) original request and (b) administration fee. [33449]

Mr. McCartney

The information is not available in the format requested.

Matthew Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the average cost of processing each information request under the Data Protection Act 1998 in the last 12 months. [33439]

Mr. McCartney

The information is not available.

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