There are 2 aspects to this question.
1. Will sharing/disclosure be compliant within DPA? Eg in terms of satisfying the 8 principles and Schedule 2.
2. Will sharing be compliant with the Local Government Finance Act (1992?) which governs the administration of Council Tax data. If that Act prohibits the sharing of data then no amount of compliance with DPA - including the express consent of the data subject - will remove that prohibition.
Up to a couple of years ago there was a huge amount of debate over whether the LGFA did allow for internal sharing or not - it's all down to poor construction of the wording in the Act and subsequent regulations in the first place, and how separate authorities interpret it now. The "signal" from central govt appears to be that they are not going to become too exercised over authorities sharing the data internally, and the ICO appears happy with that providing the sharing is DPA compliant. On that basis I know a number of authorities have made the decision to share their CT data where there is ambiguity over their power to do so. The only other source of challenge could be from a disgruntled CT payer who believes that sharing of their data is in breach - they could in theory take the matter to court and get a judicial interpretation of the matter.
It's really a matter therefore that each authority needs to take its own decision on in the light of the potential risk. The DPA aspect is relatively straight-forward - it's the LGFA aspect that presents difficulties.
I don't know if the LGFA applies in Scotland, so the situation could be very different there.
Carolyn Howard
Solicitor
Leicester City Council
email: [log in to unmask]
ext: 29 6498
tel: 0116 252 6498
(Office hours: Mon a.m./Tue/Thu)
>>> Lynn Whitehouse <[log in to unmask]> 14/10/2008 13:19 >>>
Hi
we have had a request from our internal debt recovery team to interrogate
the council tax database to find address detail of people who have debts with
the council.
These debts are not council tax debt but more like over payment of benefits
or non payment for new bins etc.
I have read the ICO guidance on this and called the ICO helpline. Their advice
was that as long as we are using te data for the administration of services we
are obliged to provide we can share the data.
Their line was administration can be defined as not only issuing
payments/services but could also cover the recovery of any over payments
Does anyone have any other opinions on this, I am a little uneasy about giving
the go ahead to share it.
Thanks
Lynn Whitehouse
Data Protection Officer
Walsall MBC
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