SIOG10130 | Procedural matters: data protection: quality of data held

All personal information must be relevant, accurate and kept up to date. Personal information should not be held just because it may be useful in the future and written opinions must be supported by fact. In particular, special care must be given to the handling of certain categories of information, which are classified under the Data Protection Act as ‘sensitive’. These are:

• racial or ethnic origin

• political opinions

• religious beliefs

• trade union members

• details about health or sex life

• information about criminal offences or convictions.

This applies to staff records as well as taxpayer records. It is vital that good file management practices are maintained to keep information up to date.

More detailed information about data protection can be found be found on the Data Protection Act.