HC Deb 15 October 2002 vol 390 cc771-2W
Mr. Liddell-Grainger

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills for what reason children's fingerprints are being taken in school libraries; if they will be stored securely; when they will he destroyed; and if she will make a statement on the system being used. [73318]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

About 1,000 schools are using software provided by a company called Micro Librarian Systems (MLS), which gives purchasers an option to use thumb printing to identify individuals for the purposes of schools' library management systems. Key features of the prints are converted into a numerical code for recording on the system. MLS has given officials in the Department a demonstration of their software and we understand that, while the number could, with difficulty, be re-created, the original print itself is not stored and cannot be reconstructed.

The Office of the Information Commissioner have confirmed that they are of the view that the current use of the software developed by MLS is compatible with the principles of data protection, given the existence of safeguards against wider use of the thumb prints than is necessary for the purpose for which they are being collected in schools. The data should be deleted once a pupil leaves a school in accordance with the fifth principle of data protection that "personal data processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes".

Ultimately, it is for schools to decide whether they wish to use this software or not and, if so, whether they wish to use the thumb print technology as part of it. If they do decide to use it, the OIC has stressed that schools should seek the consent of parents. We would add that schools should seek the consent of pupils where appropriate. MLS also strongly recommends in its literature to schools that they should contact parents to advise them of the technology and their intention to use it before beginning the registration process. In schools that do use the software with the thumb print option, there are alternative means of access for those pupils who choose, or whose parents choose, not to use the thumb print option, so they are not disadvantaged.