Data Protection 1998

The Data Protection Act controls how your personal information is used by organisations, businesses or the government.
Everyone responsible for using data has to follow strict rules called ‘data protection principles’
It needs to be used fairly and lawfully
It cannot be kept longer than absolutely necessary.
It needs to be kept safe and secured
You must make sure the information is handled according to people's data protection rights
The Data Protection Act gives you the right to find out what information the government and other organisations stores about you.
There are some situations when organisations are allowed to withhold information, eg if the information’s about: the prevention, detection or investigation of a crime national security or the armed forces the assessment or collection of tax judicial or ministerial appointments.
Some organisations may charge you for providing the information. The cost is usually no more than £10 but it can be more if the information is contained within either: certain types of records, eg health or education records a large number of paper records held in an unstructured way by a public authority

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	Created by whitef about 8 years ago