Statistics and Registration Service Bill

moved Amendment No. 190: 190: Clause 36, page 16, line 18, leave out subsection (10) The noble Baroness said: Amendment No. 190 would delete subsection (10) from Clause 36. Again, I put this forward on a probing basis. The scheme of Clause 36 is that under subsection (1) personal information must not be disclosed but then various exclusions are set out in subsection (4). So one might think that if it could be proved that, say, a Statistics Board employee disclosed personal information and he or she could not claim one of the protections in subsection (4), it would be clear that an offence had been committed and the penalties outlined in subsection (9) could be invoked on a conviction. If you were the person whose information had been disclosed, you would regard that as perfectly fair, because the release of personal information is a very serious issue. The incorrect disclosure of such information cannot be reversed and damage can be done to an individual in an instant, especially in today’s world of electronic communication. However, subsection (10) contains a defence for the employee if he or she ““reasonably believes”” that the individual cannot be identified. I paraphrase but that is the general intent. If I understand correctly how the law works, the employee would be required to establish this defence of reasonable belief only on a balance of probabilities and not beyond reasonable doubt, which is the standard used for the basic offence. That structure creates a bias in favour of those who disclose personal information and thus acts against the interests of the person to whom the information relates. The law seems to create a clear offence in relation to disclosure but then waters it down significantly. I ask the noble Lord to agree that the law should be structured so that the person whose information is disclosed is protected above those who disclose it. As I said, my amendment is probing but it is designed to rebalance the law in favour of the individual and not the discloser. I beg to move.