Charles wrote "The data subject is entitled to inspect the reference
so long as no other personal information is disclosed". However personal information about the referee might be key to the reference - viz if you wrote "When I taught X in the second year of the course, a lively contribution to the group was mitigated by an inability to turn up on time to tutorials in the morning".
An explicit refusal to disclose could be taken into account if there is an SAR. Since Section 7 implies a distinction between 3 states, explicit refusal, explicit consent and neither, and since "any steps taken by the data controller with a view to seeking the consent of the other individual" is another but separate consideration in deciding under "subsection (4)(b) whether it is reasonable in all the circumstances to comply with the request without the consent of the other individual" the statement should really offer a more nuanced explanation.
However I don't believe that it's immaterial whether you sign because the whole reference is arguably personal information about you as well as the subject if it is written from the perspective of an individual. If it's written from the records of an organisation with no content that could be attributed to an individual it would be another matter.
Paul
(Sorry if I duplicate other people's responses - our e-mail's running slow!)
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