§ Harry CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans she has to propose legislation on the application of the Data Protection Act 1998 in relation to unstructured personal information in manual form, so that the rights of access granted to data subjects are the same in Scotland as they are in England; and if she will make a statement. [59207]
§ Mrs. LiddellWhile the subject matter of the Data Protection Act 1998 is reserved, the amendments made by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to extend the scope of the Data Protection Act to cover unstructured personal data held by UK public authorities (as defined in the Freedom of Information Act) do not apply to such data held by Scottish public authorities. However, the Scottish Executive has indicated that it intends to provide the same rights of access to personal information held by Scottish public authorities as those contained in the Freedom of Information Act 2000 as regards personal information held by UK public authorities.