Government urged to review data sharing rules

Trust in government's ability to handle personal information is "evaporating "

The government has been told to urgently review data sharing rules if it is to have any hope of regaining public trust over its ability to handle sensitive personal information.

An independent review of data sharing by scientific charity, the Wellcome Trust and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) noted that inter-departmental sharing of personal data had become commonplace, as part of transformational government initiatives.

But the report also warned that high-profile failures to safeguard that data had undermined public trust in the government's ability to handle personal information.

"The technology enabling the collection and sharing of large amounts of personal data continues to advance. But public confidence in how personal information is safeguarded is evaporating," said Mark Walport, director of the Wellcome Trust in a statement.

The current legal framework regulating data sharing was in need of urgent review, he added.

“The regulatory system governing data sharing needs to have much more bite – and reform is now long overdue,” said Information Commissioner Richard Thomas.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said in a statement that it was "already working on possible amendments to the powers available to the Information Commissioner and the funding arrangements for his office to support the exercise of any new powers.”
“We will assess the other recommendations in the report in further detail and issue a more detailed statement once we have had time to fully consider the implications and costs of bringing about such changes," the spokesman added.

The report also criticised local councils for selling personal information collected for the electoral roll. The report argued that many voters did not fully understand what they had agreed to when giving consent for their information to be shared.

“It sends a particularly poor message to the public that personal information collected for something as vital as participation in the democratic process can be sold to anyone for any purpose,” the report concluded.