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Private eye

22 November 2013 / Tom Morrison
Issue: 7585 / Categories: Features , Data protection , Freedom of Information
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Tom Morrison catches up on key developments in data protection & freedom of information

Freedom of information and data protection interact in complex ways, most commonly in connection with requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FIA 2000) which could constitute personal data under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA 1998). Sometimes public authorities get the assessment wrong, in the eyes of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), and purposely withhold information when it should have been disclosed or vice versa. In a case involving Islington Council, however, personal information relating to 2,375 residents was mistakenly disclosed in spreadsheets released under FIA 2000. That mistake cost the council a £70,000 fine. It had intended to release only the summarised information collated from the pivot tables behind the spreadsheets, not the source data.

By contrast the Home Office, Sussex Police and South Tyneside Council are now being intensively monitored by the ICO, following a series of complaints relating to the failure of the authorities to reply to information requests on time. A previous exercise,

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
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