New
Clause
7
Role
of the Information
Commissioner
(1) The
Information Commissioner shall have full jurisdiction over the workings
of the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority and the Pensions
Regulator.
(2) The Secretary of
State must prepare, and keep under review, a code of practice with
respect to the disclosure of information relating to pensions by public
authorities.
(3) Before
preparing or altering the code, the Secretary of State must
consult
(a) any
specified public authority;
(b) the Information Commissioner;
and
(c) such other persons as
the Secretary of State considers
appropriate.
(4) A public
authority must have regard to the code in (or in connection with)
disclosing information relating to
pensions.
(5) Nothing in this
section applies in relation to any disclosure by a relevant public
authority of information whose subject-matter is a matter about which
provision would be within the legislative competence of the Scottish
Parliament if it were included in an Act of the Scottish
Parliament.
(6) The Secretary
of State must
(a) lay a
copy of the code, and of any alterations to it, before Parliament;
and
(b) from time to time
publish the code as for the time being in
force..[Paul
Rowen.]
Brought
up, and read the First
time.
Paul
Rowen:
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second
time.
The new clause
is about the role of the Information Commissioner. It would enshrine in
the Bill the commissioners role and give him full jurisdiction
over the workings of the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority and the
Pensions Regulator. So that that power could properly be exercised, it
would also require the Secretary of State to prepare and keep under
review a code of practice setting out the information about pensions
that could be disclosed by those and other authorities. Before that
code was introduced, the Secretary of State would have to consult
public bodies, including the Information
Commissioner, and people in the pensions industry whom he deemed
appropriate.
The code
of practice would state which information about pensions could be
disclosed, which is important. In recent months, we have seen the
appalling way in which personal data have been mislaid by public
authorities or not properly encrypted when sent outthe
Department for Work and Pensions has been perhaps the greatest
culpritand the careless way in which huge chunks of personal
information have gone missing. In recent months, hardly a week has gone
by without one or other area of government losing personal
information.
When the
initial loss of Child Support Agency child benefit details was
announced, the Prime Minister agreed at Prime Ministers
questions that the role of the Information Commissioner needed to be
expanded. Yet another review has been set up to examine that role,
which is vital because we cannot have sensitive personal information
being treated as it has been by the DWP and other
Departments.
The Bill
will increase considerably the number of people in pension schemes.
Perhaps up to 6 million people will be signed up to personal accounts,
and they will be individuals who have not been saving in pension
schemes in the past. The information will be held by a public body, and
we believe that it is
important
It
being twenty-five minutes past Ten oclock,
The
Chairman
adjourned the Committee without Question put,
pursuant to the Standing
Order.
Adjourned
till this day at One
oclock.
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