Extract from e-Government Bulletin...
* 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 <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
<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 <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."
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