Police National Computer
01 January 1991
Police National Computer
artdoc May=1991
House of Commons written answer 20.7.90 Col.746
Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home
Department what information he has as to the numbers of subject
access requests made to police forces; whether he will
introduce regulations to make it an offence for any person to
require a data subject to seek subject access to personal data
held by the police; whether he will introduce legislation to
determine when police records may be used for vetting purposes,
and whether he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd: I understand from the Commissioner of
Police of the Metropolis that from July 1989 to June 1990 the
subject access office of the national identification bureau
received 10,818 requests for subject access under the Data
Protection Act 1984. Of these 1,371 requests were made
initially to the Metropolitan police and 9,447 to other forces.
We are currently discussing with representatives of the police
service and the Data Protection Registrar how to deal with
enforced subject access. The Home Department is planning to
mount a scrutiny in the autumn to examine the most appropriate
arrangements for the maintenance of, and disclosure from, the
national collection of criminal records.