I had interpreted the Act as providing access to references received 
by the  data controller, but that the need for reliability could be met 
by using the US practice of asking applicants to waive the right of 
access. Not all might agree, but the recipient then has an added 
indicator to go with the reference. 
In practice, I would expect the actual use of right of access to be as 
limited under the new Act as it has been under the 1984 Act....?

Has the DP Registrar expressed a view?
Patrick Wallace
[log in to unmask]

> 
> I would welcome the thoughts of members on this issue.
> 
> I know that Mike Lloyd said recently that he had raised the issue with 
> UCAS but apparently they are *still* going down the lines of interpreting 
> the Data Protection Act 1998 as affording no protection from disclosing 
> confidential references *received* by a data controller.  
> 
> As has been discussed before on the mailbase, the generally accepted 
> interpretation appears to be:
> 
> Schedule 7 of the Act deals with specific exemptions but relates only to 
> references *provided* by the data controller. However, the rights provided 
> in Section 7 of the Act itself allow references *received* by data 
> controller to be withheld in almost all circumstances, since by disclosing 
> them they would identify a third party. [apart from the fact that we 
> should respect the rights of the original data controller as well..]
> 
> I think it it still important that schools and colleges feel that they 
> *can* write confidential references as it could have a huge disadvantage 
> for students whose circumstances they feel thay cannot explain fully (for 
> example, problems with staffing or illess).
> 
> Does anyone else have any views on this?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __________________________________
> Anne Johnson
> Assistant Registrar (Student Systems)
> University of Sussex; Tel: 01273 (67)8761
> e-mail [log in to unmask]
> 
> 
> 
> 




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