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Westminster committee criticises Government on data protection |
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Friday, 14 March 2008 |
Repeated losses of personal data are "symptomatic of the Government’s persistent failure to take data protection safeguards sufficiently seriously", according to a report released today by the Joint Select Committee on Human Rights.
Setting out detailed rules and requirements in primary legislation
would help ensure that data protection becomes a primary concern of
managers and front-line staff in the public sector, the Committee said.
Members of the Committee said that expressed concern that recent
breaches in data security do not inspire confidence about the proposed
National Identity Register. The Committee said it will closely
scrutinise the detailed plans for the register as they emerge, as well
as the outcome of the various current reviews of data protection
legislation and practice.
Committee chair Andrew Dismore MP said: "People were shocked by the
recent loss of child benefit data but that was far from a one-off. In
fact, it was symptomatic of lax standards in the public sector.
Information should be treated as sensitively and carefully as hard
cash. It should not be sent in the post unregistered and unencrypted.
It has taken the massive data loss by HMRC to bring the true
consequences of the piecemeal approach to data management to light. The
Government must demonstrate that it appreciates the seriousness of what
needs to be done.
"The fundamental problem is a cultural one. There has been a rapid
increase in the amount of data sharing in the public sector, which can
be useful, important and necessary. But this has not been matched the
even more necessary strong commitment to safeguard the right to respect
for personal data."
The Committee reminded Government that the right to respect for private
life in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the
Human Rights Act obliges the Government to provide adequate protection
for personal data and information.
It pointed out 18 previous occasions on which it had expressed concerns
about data protection provision in Government Bills, including the
Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Bill in 2005, where it flagged
up the "inadequacy of safeguards relating to HMRC information sharing
powers".
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