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LA Colleagues,
As DP Officers have you commented on the article below regarding
Council's acting unlawfully in sharing resident change of address data
across department.
If so I would appreciate any comments you may have and whether this
is likely to jeopardise large parts of the e-government agenda.
My personal opinion is that this issue largely resolves around the
1st principle concerning the fair processing code (Sch 1, Part II, paragraph
1-4). What do you think?
Regards,
Jody Bhoot
Leicestershire County Council.
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COUNCILS 'EXPOSED TO LEGAL CHALLENGE'.
Around one local authority in 10 may be acting unlawfully by sharing
resident change of address data across departments, according to legal
advice obtained by two 'pathfinder' councils which could jeopardise large
parts of the e-government agenda.
A group of 'pathfinder' councils has written to deputy prime
minister John Prescott urging him to introduce new legislation allowing
change of address data to be shared within councils, E-Government Bulletin
has learned.
Their concerns came to light earlier this year when Shepway District
Council, which was developing a pathfinder system to share change of address
data across the organisation, sought advice from law firm Nabarro Nathanson
(<http://www.nabarro./com>) on the legality of the process.
The firm advised that the council was likely to be acting outside
its powers under data protection and human rights law, putting it at risk of
legal challenge if it proceeded. It raised the matter with the then
Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions, which asked
Shepway to host a meeting between a cross-section of pathfinder councils to
discuss the issue. Following this meeting the City of London Corporation
sought an opinion from Michael Beloff QC, who concurred with the Nabarro
Nathanson advice.
The Cabinet Office's Performance and Innovation Unit acknowledged
concerns about data sharing in a report earlier this year
(<http://www.piu.gov.uk/2002/privacy/report> - see E-Government Bulletin,
issue 112).
As many as 12 per cent of councils may already be risking legal
challenge by sharing change of address data between departments. In the most
recent annual report into council web sites by the technology managers'
group Socitm, some 32 authorities were found to offer an online change of
address service to the public, as at December 2001. The report cited three
councils for best practice: Chester, Christchurch and Crawley.
Since then the number of councils offering such facilities has
grown, as evidenced by the fact that some 50 now make use of address
notification technologies provided by the specialist private sector service
provider 'ihavemoved.com' (<http://www.ihavemoved.com>).
Catherine Palmer, corporate data manager at Shepway, said: "A lot of
pathfinders hadn't thought about it - they had assumed that as their work
had government approval, and as they were asking residents to consent for
the use of their change of address data, they would be OK. But resident
consent is not sufficient.
"We've spent a good deal of time and money on this project, but we
can't implement it or share our solution with other councils until the legal
aspects are cleared up."
_______________________________________________________________________
The contents of this message do not necessarily represent the
opinions, views, policy or procedures of Leicestershire County Council.
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