Craig in feed form

My letter to my MP, Don Foster, regarding Clause 152 of the Coroners and Justice Bill.

Dear Don Foster,

I would like to draw your attention to Clause 152 of the Coroners and
Justice Bill. The Bill is currently in the committee phase. I am not
very familiar with reading legislation or interpreting it, but having
read the clause, I would summarise as follows.

The clause amends the Data Protection Act 1998 to allow ministers to
break the act (by sharing personal information) when it is “necessary
to secure a relevant policy” i.e. whenever they like. No restriction is
placed on who the information may be shared with, or for what purposes.

Part B, subsection (2) also allows for the creation of offences through
the issuing of information sharing orders… I don’t know how these
things are normally done, but that just doesn’t sound right.

I fear this is a “get out clause” for those who feel tied by the Data
Protection Act. It also seems to clear barriers to sharing of personal
information between government departments… but further places no
restriction on sharing with the private sector.

Yours sincerely,
Craig Loftus

My letter was sent with the aid of WriteToThem.com.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 11:06 and is filed under Letters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.