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Census Forms

Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with the National Assembly for Wales concerning their role in agreeing the content of future census forms in Wales; and if he will make a statement. [33522]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Simon Thomas, dated 7 February 2002:

As National Statistician and Registrar General for England and Wales I have been asked to reply to your recent question about discussions with the National Assembly for Wales concerning their role in agreeing the content of future census forms in Wales. (33522)

Discussions are currently taking place between officials from the Office for National Statistics and the National Assembly for Wales (NAW) with a view to ensuring that the NAW has a more formal role in the planning, and content of, future Censuses in Wales. I will make a statement when an agreement has been reached.

Manufacturing Jobs

Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many manufacturing jobs in central London have been lost since 1 April 2001. [33701]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Mark field, dated 7 February 2002:

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question about how many manufacturing jobs in central London have been lost since 1st April 2001. (33701)

7 Feb 2002 : Column 1142W

Data for employee jobs in Central London are only collected by the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI). ABI data are available on Nomis, which is accessible through the House of Commons Library. The most recent data available related to December 2000 and were released in December 2001. Data for December 2001 will be published in December 2002.

Data Protection Act

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the longest period of time elapsed is between receiving (a) the administration fee and providing the information requested and (b) a request for information and providing the information requested, under the Data Protection Act 1998. [33457]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The information is as follows:

	Longest period of time between providing information requested and receiving:
Department	Administration fee	Request for information
HM Treasury	91	110
Customs and Excise	n/a	172
Inland Revenue	n/a	55

Customs and Excise

(a) The Department does not charge a fee for processing subject access requests.

(b) The longest period elapsing between receiving a request and completing all action relating to its is 172 calendar days.

Inland Revenue

(a) The Inland Revenue does not charge an administration fee for responding to requests under the Data Protection Act 1998.

(b) For completed requests, the longest period of time elapsed between receiving a request for information and providing the information requested under the Data Protection Act 1998 is 55 days. For outstanding requests, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him today in respect of his question 33435.

7 Feb 2002 : Column 1143W

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many requests the Department has received under the Data Protection Act 1988 for (a) electronically held information and (b) paper documentation. [33585]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The information is as follows:

	How many data protection requests have been received for:
	Electronically held information	Paper document
HM Treasury	n/a	n/a
Customs and Excise	19	n/a
Inland Revenue	11,988	421

HM Treasury
The Treasury has generally included paper records in its searches wherever possible, and therefore makes no distinction in its records.
Customs and Excise
The requests that the Department receives do not normally differentiate between the ways in which data are held.

Inland Revenue

	Number
Electronically held information	11,988
Paper documentation	421
Total	12,409

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many responses to requests for information under the Data Protection Act 1998 have been completed (a) within 40, (b) between 40 and 60 and (c) over 60 days after receiving the original letter; and how many are still outstanding. [33435]

7 Feb 2002 : Column 1144W

Mr. Andrew Smith: The information is as follows:

	HM Treasury	Customs and Excise	Inland Revenue
Total number of requests	32	76	12,409
Completed within 40 days	17	25	12,356
Completed between 40 and 60 days	6	16	10
Completed over 60 days	3	22	2
Still outstanding	6	13	41

HM Treasury
The outstanding requests relate to either security vetting issues which have only recently been solved, or to 'all records' requests which have necessitated lengthy paper as well as electronic searches.
Customs and Excise
These figures relate to a period when HM Customs and Excise was undergoing fundamental restructuring and was introducing, as a consequence, revised procedures for dealing with subject access requests. The new procedures, coupled with further measures to increase staff awareness, should have a beneficial effect on future response times.
Inland Revenue
Of the 41 outstanding subject access requests under the Data Protection Act 1998, 39 requests are within the 40 day time limit set out in the Act. In two cases, clearances are awaited from the Inland Revenue's medical advisers for the release of sealed medical records covered by doctor/patient confidentiality. All other records were released to the individuals within 40 days.

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of responses to requests for information under the Data Protection Act 1998 the Department has completed (a) within 40 days of receipt of the £10 fee, (b) between 40 and 60 days of and (c) over 60 days after receiving the administration fee. [33471]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The answer is as follows:

	HM Treasury(14)	Customs and Excise(15)	Inland Revenue(16)
Percentage of requests completed within 40 days of receipt of £10 fee	18.2	18.2	18.2
Percentage of requests completed between 40 and 60 days of receipt of £10 fee	n/a	n/a	n/a
Percentage of requests completed over 60 days of receipt of £10 fee	n/a	n/a	n/a

⁽¹⁴⁾ The percentage reflects the relatively small number of cases involved and the relative difficulty of responding to them.

⁽¹⁵⁾ The Department does not charge a fee for processing subject access requests.

⁽¹⁶⁾ The Inland Revenue does not charge an administration fee for responding to requests under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what administration fees are charged by the Department for information requests made under the Data Protection Act 1998. [33464]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The information is as follows:

HM Treasury

The Department charges the standard £10 administration fee on all subject access requests except those made by current Treasury staff.

Customs and Excise

The Department does not charge a fee for processing subject access requests.

Inland Revenue

The Inland Revenue does not charge an administration fee for responding to requests under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the period of time elapsed is for the oldest outstanding request for information under the Data Protection Act 1998, since receipt of the (a) original request and (b) administration fee. [33448]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The information is as follows:

Days

	Longest outstanding request on receipt of:
	Original letter	£10 fee
HM Treasury	364	182
Customs and Excise(17)	131	n/a
Inland Revenue(18)	90	n/a

⁽¹⁷⁾ The Department does not charge an administration fee for processing subject access requests

⁽¹⁸⁾ The Inland Revenue does not charge an administration fee for responding to requests under the Data Protection Act 1998

7 Feb 2002 : Column 1145W

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many responses the Department has completed to requests for information made under the Data Protection Act 1998 for (a) electronically held information and (b) paper documentation. [33578]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The information is as follows:

	Responses completed for:
Department	Electronic information only	Paper information only
HM Treasury	n/a	n/a
Customs and Excise	19	n/a
Inland Revenue	11,988	380

HM Treasury
The Treasury has generally included paper records in its searches wherever possible.
Customs and Excise
The Department does not differentiate between electronic and manual data for responses supplied since 24 October 2001, since to do so would require disproportionate effort. Responses completed prior to 24 October 2001 related only to data held electronically; 19 were completed up to that time.

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many responses to requests for information under the Data Protection Act 1998 the Department has completed (a) within 40 days of receipt of, (b) between 40 and 60 days of receiving and (c) over 60 days after receiving the £10 administration fee. [33566]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The information is as follows:

	HM Treasury	Customs and Excise	Inland Revenue
Total number of requests	11	n/a	n/a
Completed within 40 days	2	n/a	n/a
Completed between 40 and 60 days	2	n/a	n/a
Completed over 60 days	2	n/a	n/a
Still outstanding	5	n/a	n/a

HM Treasury
The administration fee is not charged to current Treasury staff inquiring on their own records.
Customs and Excise
The Department does not charge a fee for processing subject access requests.
Inland Revenue
The Inland Revenue does not charge an administration fee for responding to requests under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the policy of the Department is for ensuring responses to requests for information under the Data Protection Act 1998 are completed within 40 days; and what their procedure is to achieve this; [33478]

(2) what the Department's procedure is for responding to requests for information under the Data Protection Act 1998; if he will place a copy in the Library; and if he will make a statement. [33485]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The information is as follows.

7 Feb 2002 : Column 1146W

HM Treasury
The Department's policy is to comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998, and wherever possible to respond with the information requested well within the 40-day time limit. Under the Data Protection Act 1984, when virtually no requests were received, annual test-requests were processed to make sure that the system was compliant. Since the 1998 Act came into force, there have been a few occasions where open-ended demands for information have exceeded the normal channel's ability to respond promptly. The Department is currently resourcing a team to ensure timely responses to all requests for the Department's information.
Customs and Excise
The Department's policy is to comply with the requirements of the Act. Following its recent restructuring it has been necessary to introduce revised procedures for dealing with subject access requests. The new procedures, coupled with further planned measures to increase staff awareness, should have a beneficial effect on future response times. The Department has also increased the staffing of the central unit whose role is to co-ordinate responses to subject access requests. This unit acts as a focal point for incoming requests, initiates the necessary searches, collates the information received and issues a single response to the applicant.
Inland Revenue
The Inland Revenue is very conscious of its obligation to meet the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998. The Department aims to respond to requests for information under the Act well within the 40-day time limit. The Department has in place a small central unit whose role is to co-ordinate, manage and oversee the response to all requests for information under the Data Protection Act 1998. supported by an extensive structure of data protection officers across the Department, the unit collates the relevant electronic and paper records to produce a single response to the data subject on behalf of the Inland Revenue. Staff are provided with detailed guidance, and where necessary, training to ensure that the Inland Revenue fully complies with its legal obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the average cost of processing each information request under the Data Protection Act 1998. [33437]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The information is as follows:

HM Treasury

The Department does not maintain figures on this, and to supply them would involve disproportionate cost. The cost required to fulfil subject access requests may vary greatly from case to case, depending on the volume and ownership of records to be searched. The Department is planning to centralise and develop its facilities in order to improve the efficiency of these searches, and reduce the time taken.

Customs and Excise

The Department does not record the information required to produce these figures because to do so would involve disproportionate cost, given the relatively small number of subject access requests received.

Inland Revenue

The average cost to the Inland Revenue of processing each information request under the Data Protection Act 1998 could be supplied only at disproportionate cost.

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