In response to " Did anyone send a reply to the advice given out by the 
Registrar on use  of  Council Tax data?"

Can I send what we have put in our newsletter -(which hopefully you will 
subscribe to at some time in  the future)

Chris


Secondary use of Council Tax data

The Registrar has circulated  "Data Protection Advice on the Secondary Use 
of Personal Data Held for the Collection and Administration of Council Tax". 
Is your reaction on the lines of "Oh! A document about Council Tax - how 
fascinating -next page here I come"? If "yes" then pause a moment, 
especially for public sector readers. In summary this document reinforces 
the Guidance "Private Lives. And Public Powers", now under revision; it 
states that "Local authorities are creatures of statute and, as such, must 
have specific statutory authority to use or disclose information acquired by 
virtue of their powers to charge and administer Council Tax for any 
purpose". Now if the reader mentally edits this sentence to replace "Local" 
with "All public" and generalise its meaning by removing "to charge and 
administer Council Taxes", one arrives at a simple message: all public 
authorities must have specific statutory authority to use or disclose 
information for any purpose (and to do otherwise could also result in a 
breach of the Human Rights Act, we hasten to add).

In short, this document should be seen as a worked example of how the Act 
applies to any statutory function; a short appendix illustrates what this 
means by providing answers to important questions. For instance "can a local 
authority make use of its Council Tax database in tracing its own debtors?" 
 - Answer "yes, if the debts in question relate to the Council Tax" (but not 
debts in general). In summary, Council Tax personal data do not form a 
general information resource for any Local Authority function unless use for 
that function can be substantiated, or expressly permitted, in terms of 
regulations or primary legislation.

One word of caution about the advice. The Registrar states that "Local 
Authorities MAY, however, take advantage of canvass and to solicit consent 
to the use of information provided for the purposes of the Council Tax for 
other purposes" (our emphasis on MAY); this does not mean that the obtaining 
of consent, if obtained, legitimises the activity. In "Private Lives And 
Public Powers" for instance, the Registrar states that if "One of the 
restrictions on the use of personal data is that the department does not 
have the statutory power to carry out the activity contemplated", then "Even 
if individuals consent to the use, the consent will not overcome that 
problem" (of not having the statutory authority with respect to the 
activity).

Chris
 ----------
> From: [log in to unmask]
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Memo 12.Nov.1999 11:19
> Date: 12 November 1999 11:23
>
> <<File Attachment: ENVELOPE.TXT>>
>  Did anyone send a reply to the advice given out by the Registrar on use
> of
> Council Tax data?(Advice was sent out to all local authorities in May)
> If yes, please contact me on 0171 361 3724.
>  Thanks
>  Nicola (RBKC)
>
> 

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