Government departments ignoring DPA

The government suffered yet more embarrassment today when it was revealed that several major government departments do not have any systems in place to ensure compliance with the Data Protection Act.

Online identity firm Garlik submitted 14 Freedom of Information (FoI) requests. It found that that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Department of Health (DoH), among others, admitted to one or more of the following; no written data correction policies, no allocated funds set aside to correct erroneous data, and no independent audits to check DPA compliance.

"We found that consumers are not so worried about the government holding the data, but that it could be erroneous," said Garlik chief executive Tom Ilube. " If you're holding large amounts of data you need to understand the error rates and have processes in place to deal with it."

Ilube called for government departments to be subject to independent audits to ensure DPA compliance, and that they allocate funds to correct any erroneous data.

"The government is managing to comply with the letter of the law but not embrace it," he added.