Data Protection Act requests

What is the Data Protection Act?

The Data Protection Act 1998 gives individuals the right to know what information is held about them, and it provides a framework to ensure that personal information is handled properly.

The Act works in two ways. Firstly, it states that anyone who processes personal information must comply with the following eight principles.

To make sure that personal information is:

• fairly and lawfully processed
• processed for limited purposes
• adequate, relevant and not excessive
• accurate and up to date
• not kept for longer than is necessary (data collected for research or historical purposes may be kept indefinitely)
• processed in line with your rights
• secure
• not transferred to other countries without adequate protection.

The second area covered by the Act provides individuals with important rights, including the right to find out what personal information is held on computer and most paper records.

If an individual feels they are being denied access to personal information they are entitled to see, or feel their information has not been handled according to the eight principles, they can ask the Information Commissioner to look into it.

More information about the Data Protection Act and your rights under the Act is on the Information Commissioner's web-site.

Page last updated 1 December 2011