What should I do if I am asked to disclose information from the national data match?
What should I do if I am asked to disclose information from the national data match?
If you receive a request for the data from the national data match for the purpose of any civil or criminal proceedings, you may be able to supply the data in specific circumstances, but you should take your own legal advice before doing so. As part of your ongoing data protection compliance, you should maintain records of every person and organisation supplied with any data to demonstrate that you are complying with the relevant legislation and the principles of processing personal data, and are ensuring that it is processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.
Subject access requests
Data protection legislation provides that a person may make a subject access request to see personal information that is held about them and this could include a person asking whether or not they were a match during the annual canvass.
If you receive such a request, you must be satisfied of the requester’s identity before fulfilling the request. Information requested by data subjects must be provided without delay and in any event within one month (although this can be extended to two months in certain conditions).