Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Norman Baker (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 18 June 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 20 June 2007. It was answered by Vera Baird (Labour) on Monday, 25 June 2007 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Data Protection: Prosecutions

Question
To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many prosecutions against data controllers for failure to notify the Information Commissioner of the processing of personal data under the Data Protection Act 1998 were brought in each year since the coming into force of that Act.
Answer

The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) came into effect on 1 March 2000.Prosecutions for non-notification under section 17 of the DPA can be instituted by the Information Commissioner or by, or with the consent of, the Director of Public Prosecutions.Data on all prosecutions under the DPA are collected by the Ministry of Justice's Office for Criminal Justice Reform. Data are collected under specific codes and not on individual case circumstances. Data on the number of prosecutions for non-notification of the processing of personal data under section 17 of the Act therefore cannot be separately identified and data are not available. The information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.The Information Commissioner's Office maintains details of prosecutions that they have instituted for non-notification under section 17 of the DPA. These figures are as follows:

Number
2000 0
2001 0
2002 1
2003 0
2004 3
2005 8
2006 13
2007 1

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
144330; 462 c337W
Session
2006-07
Subjects
Data protection Prosecutions
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk