the Data Protection Act does not contain an absolute prohibition on access to personal information about third parties. What it says is that providng access must be fair and lawful and covered by a Schedule 2 condition.
Factors in assessing fairness will include the nature and age of the information, the basis on which it was acquired and the likely effect of disclosure. For a public sector archives the condition at para 5(b)of Schedule 2 should suffice - the 1962 Local Government (Records) Act still applies.
A lot depends on what is in the records in question and what the enquirer actually wants. If all he wants is the names of his class, then is there really a problem in providing a list given the age of the information?
Susan Healy
Information Policy Consultant
Public Sector Information Division
The National Archives
Tel 020 8392 5330 ext 2305
Email [log in to unmask]
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Nigel Roberts
Sent: 17 April 2007 15:33
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [data-protection] Access to old school records
> The primary thing is to ensure that the archives unit understands its rights
> and responsibilities and that these are documented.
>
> -----Original Message-----
Agreed. But there seems to be a lot of confusion here.
Are there ANY circumstances where disclosure is lawful?
Clearly no-one in 1958 was recording informed consent from parents
(maybe now deceased) and/or from data subjects (likely to still be
alive, hence the point of the search!!)
Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.
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