Dear John
There is an initiative called the "National Fraud Initiative" which is
run by the Audit Commission and is imposed on local authorities as part
of their audit. It matches benefit data, payroll and housing records
against the systems of all other LA's as well as county council pension
payrolls, NHS pensions, asylum seeker applicants, student loan records
and many others.
Unless students satisfy certain criteria, they are not eligible to
Housing/Council Tax Benefit and where they are, the income from any
student loan is taken into account when calculating benefits. This is a
check to see that persons who are in receipt of a student loan have
declared that (a) they are a student and (b) the money received is
declared.
The Borough Council is likely to be trying to establish that not only
has the claimant received the loan but that they are also attending the
university. It has been known that students receive money but don't
attend, which means they are not technically a student.
To quote section 29 of the DPA indicates the council is investigating a
crime and disclosure would be appropriate and would not breach the DPA
if you are satisfied of the purpose of the request, however there is no
statutory duty to disclose. Under section 34 you are obliged to
disclose only if the information is required under enactment to be made
available to the public.
Hope this helps.
Julie Gibbs
Information Officer, ICT
Treasury & Corporate Support
Crewe & Nantwich Borough Council
-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Hitches, John F
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 2:37 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [data-protection] Council Benefit Investigation Teams
I have been speaking with a Borough Council investigation who wrote to
the University requesting information about various students. The letter
said that they were conducting a criminal investigation and requested
disclosure under DPA Section 29.
The investigation is part of a national fraud initiative matching
payment of student loans to claims for housing benefits etc..
I have been told that some universities / colleges are responding
without question whereas my questioning of why they should be given this
data was not welcomed and I have been threatened with a call from the
Audit Commission which I eagerly await!
Coincidentally I have also received a fax from a a company which appears
to be an agency for a council. They give no reason for their request
whatsoever but simply ask for confirmation that a person is studying and
refer to sections 29 and 34 of the Act.
I would be interested to know of other HEIs experience of such requests
and whether or not you do respond under section 29. Perhaps some of the
local authority people on the list might also like to comment on these
approaches by their council colleagues.
John F Hitches
General Administrative Manager
Kingston University
This email has been scanned for all viruses by the MessageLabs Email
Security System.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
available to the world wide web community at large at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html
If you wish to leave this list please send the command
leave data-protection to [log in to unmask]
All user commands can be found at : -
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm
Any queries about sending or receiving message please send to the list
owner
[log in to unmask]
(all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
--
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by IC-MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.
For queries or information please contact:-
=================================
Internet Central Technical Support
http://www.internet-central.net
=================================
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
available to the world wide web community at large at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html
If you wish to leave this list please send the command
leave data-protection to [log in to unmask]
All user commands can be found at : -
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm
Any queries about sending or receiving message please send to the list owner
[log in to unmask]
(all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|