One aspect which I haven't noticed being discussed yet is that, come next
January, we could have a two-tier system which might work to the detriment
of people who are the subject of records held by the public sector.
Before the Durant case I thought it was fairly clear - only a fraction of
data identifying individuals (e.g. the fact that my name happens to appear
in the middle of a 50 page report) would be held other than on a computer
or relevant filing system. Therefore, all but a fraction of data
identifying individuals would be covered by DPA and liable to disclosure
under S7 - which, in turn, meant that only a fraction of data identifying
individuals would be liable to be disclosed in response to a request under
S1 of FoIA.
Now we have a situation where the definition of a relevant filing system is
much narrower. The initial effect is that the amount of data liable to be
disclosed in response to a S7 request is reduced. However, the subsequent
effects differ between private and public sectors.
In the private sector, information which an organisation wishes not to be
disclosable can be stored in a manual system outside the definition of a
relevant filing system (in the same way that certain organisations
processed data manually rather than automatically to sidestep the 1984
Act). This will remain hidden because FoIA doesn't to apply to the private
sector.
In the public sector, however, FoIA will force bodies to disclose - to
anyone - information which is not covered by DPA or by another exemption.
Many public sector bodies have old manual files going back decades which
probably, now, fall outside the definition of a relevant filing system.
Looks like we are going to be living in interesting times.
Regards,
Graham
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