Doreen, It may be worthwhile considering the processes commented on in the Gaskin v United Kingdom (1990) case,
Gaskin claimed he had been ill treated as a child and requested all documents held by a relevant local authority which related to his case. Third parties such as doctors had prepared some of the documents and the local authority sought their consent to disclose the documents. In some cases consent was declined. The Local Authority therefore did not disclose the documents. The European Court of Human Rights disagreed with the LA's conclusion and held that whilst Mr Gaskin did not have an entitlement to access all data, the failure to provide an independent review constituted a breach of his rights under Article 8 (the right to privacy) of the ECHR.
If the third party is not available to be asked or unreasonably refused permission there should be some provision to allow the case to be reviewed and a refusal to be overridden in an appropriate case. The Court took the view that there had to be a mechanism for independent authority to balance the competing rights involved in an individual case.
Paul's advice to get a lawyer involved seems very appropriate if they can offer the "independent review" in addition to the confidentiality point - All of this within 40 days !!!
regards,
Lewis Bourne
Principal Information Security Officer
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