Information on a credit report should be purely factual. For example, if a consumer has incurred arrears with an energy company that shares information with Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs), then these arrears will have been recorded on the consumer’s credit report.

If a consumer believes that an item on their credit report is inaccurate, they can raise a dispute with the CRA they received their report from, or with the organisation that supplied the information. If an organisation fails to correct any inaccuracies with the information that they have supplied to a CRA, a consumer can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO is the UK's independent body set up to uphold information rights, and it enforces the Data Protection Act.

The ICO can tell organisations such as energy companies to help resolve a consumer’s complaint, including requiring an organisation to correct any inaccuracies. The ICO cannot award compensation, even when it gives an opinion that an organisation has broken data protection law. However, consumers have a right to claim compensation from an organisation if they have suffered damage as a result of it breaking data protection law. This includes both material damage, for example where a consumer has lost money, or non-material damage, for example where a consumer has suffered distress. They can do this by contacting the organisation directly or by making a claim in court.

No individuals have been subject to credit checking by Experian at Greenwich and Lewisham NHS Trust. Rather the Trust has conducted checks on the residency status of patients as they are required to do by law.

Credit checking describes accessing someone’s credit history for the purpose of assessing their suitability for credit. A person’s credit history is the factual record of credit they have used over the last six years.

The residency check, on the other hand, looks at many sources to see whether someone has a digital footprint in the United Kingdom as a proxy for whether they are likely to be resident. A residency check has no impact on credit scores or reports but simply cross-references the information provided with Experian’s existing records, to confirm that further enquires may be required by the Trust to establish a person’s eligibility to NHS funded care.

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) is an independent body which pays compensation to members of defined benefit occupational pension schemes where the sponsoring employer becomes insolvent and the scheme is unable to cover the accrued pension liabilities. The PPF is funded from a combination of the transferred scheme funds, recoveries from the insolvent employer, investment return and a levy on eligible schemes. Under the Pensions Act 2004, the levy is set by the PPF independently of the Government. The Department has therefore held no discussions on this matter.

[holding answer 19 June 2012]: Since HMRC has made use of Experian, the Tax Credit Office has looked at 24,299 awards and received 2,013 appeals against decisions which were made using this additional data.

Of those appeals, 248 decisions have been made to date of which:

80 were revisions in favour of the appellant:

83 were not changed; and

85 have been passed to the first tier tribunal.

[holding answer 19 June 2012]: The contract with Experian is for 12 months and is due to expire early December 2012.

The total cost of the contract is not yet known because it is being delivered through a Payment by Results model. This means that Experian receive payment when they help HMRC and DWP deliver their targets to reduce fraud and error.

HMRC does not expect payment to exceed £170,000 in total by the end of the contract.