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Members of Parliament and the Data Protection Act 1998
Added: 27 May 2005
The following information,
is important and should be read by ALL staff who work for an
MP. Then you need to act on it.
Update 4 October 2006: click here for more recent guidance on requests under the Freedom of Information Act
Update 1 June 2005: we have now included a PDF version of the updated booklet (see below)
Bob Castle is the Data Protection Officer for the House of Commons administration. He wrote to all MPs to tell them about each Member of Parliament’s obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998 and to let them know how to find information and advice about this aspect of constituency work.
If you use information technology to deal with personal information, or if your office uses computers, even for word processing, you have a legal obligation to register with the Information Commissioner. You will need to register even if your local party organisation has already registered. The registration process is called notification. You can apply either via the Commissioner’s website www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk, or by telephoning the Notification Department 01625 545740.
Either way you will get a
standard notification template, which has been designed to cover a Member
of Parliament’s specific activities. Once the forms are complete they
will need to be signed and returned to the Commissioner’s Office with a
processing fee, which can be claimed against the Incidental Expenses
Provision. Your notification
has to be renewed each year.
Further advice about the Act, how it applies to you and your office and how to ensure your constituency activities comply with the requirements of the Act is contained in the House of Commons booklet “Advice for Members’ Offices: Data Protection Act 1998 Personal information about constituents and others” which has been recently updated. Two copies of the booklet have been sent to each new Member and copies of the updated version will be mailed to the other Members in the next couple of weeks. The booklet is also available on the parliamentary intranet site and can be accessed via the ‘Data Protection’ link on the index page [see footnote 1 below]. The index also provides access to Library research papers and standard notes dealing with specific aspects of the Act.
It is important that Members’ staff are aware of Data Protection issues and the Act. The House provides training on data protection for them. The course covers the basic principles of data protection and the concept of processing personal data and how to apply these principles to the work of an MP’s office. Further details about this course are available on the Working for an MP website: www.w4mp.org [see footnote 2 below].
Please contact me (x2032) if you or you staff have any questions about the contents of the booklet or require advice about the application of the Act in your office.
Bob Castle, House of Commons
Data Protection Officer.
Email: castleb@Parliament.uk
Telephone: 0207 219 2032
[1] Link to booklet on the Parliamentary Intranet (provided you have access) or immediate access to a PDF version (318 KB)
[2] Link to training: http://www.w4mp.org/html/personnel/training/default.asp, scroll down to "Choose a course" and select "Data Protection".
Data Protection & Freedom of Information
The Information Commissioner has issued new guidance for MPs' offices, on how to deal with Freedom of Information requests relating to correspondence.
This guidance can be found on the Information Commissioner's website here.
You can also
