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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] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%