HOUSE OF LORDS - United Kingdom Parliament

DATA PROTECTION
12.22 The Data Protection Act 1998 has been extended to both
Houses of Parliament 1 . The Act gives individuals (data subjects) a general
right of access to personal information held about them, subject to
certain exemptions. It also places a duty on all data controllers to comply
with the eight Data Protection Principles (Schedule 1 to the Act). These
relate to the collection, use, maintenance, accuracy and security of
personal information. The Clerk of the Parliaments has the role of data
controller in relation to the processing of personal data by or on behalf of
the House of Lords. Under section 35A of the Act 2 personal data are
exempt from certain provisions of the Act if the exemption is required
for the purpose of avoiding an infringement of the privileges of either
House of Parliament.
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
12.23 The Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives a general right of
access to information held by public authorities, sets out exemptions
from that right and places a number of obligations on public authorities.
The House of Lords is a separate public authority under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and therefore has a separate scheme and
arrangements for implementing and complying with the Act. The Clerk of
the Parliaments has entrusted day-to-day responsibility for House of
Lords’ arrangements to the Freedom of Information Officer. The Act
requires every public authority to maintain a publication scheme setting
out the classes of information which it publishes or intends to publish, the
form in which it intends to publish the information, and details of any
charges. The initial House of Lords’ publication scheme was approved by
the Information Commissioner and was laid before the House by the
Clerk of the Parliaments in November 2002.
12.24 The Clerk of the Parliaments as the authorised officer of the
House may refuse to disclose information on the ground of either
parliamentary privilege (section 34) or prejudice to the effective conduct
of public affairs (section 36). A certificate signed by him is conclusive of
1 The Act is applied to both Houses by s. 63A (added by Schedule 6 to the Freedom of
Information Act 2000).
2 Added by Schedule 6 to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
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