They know who you are. They know where you live. But do they always know what to do with the information?

High-profile data losses in the public and private sectors have eroded public confidence in data sharing, says Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, in the Data Sharing Review, which calls for a new approach in the way local authorities and other organisations share personal data.

Huge volumes of information are collected by public sector organisations, from birth registrations to financial data, health records and other personal information given when applying for passports, paying television licences, or applying for school places for children.

Much of this information is shared between authorities, often without our knowledge.

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Background

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But many organisations lack clear lines of responsibility for handling personal information, the review finds. While in the US organisations increasingly appoint chief privacy officers, data protection in the UK is often given to junior members of staff to handle.

“In certain cases, sharing personal information can bring real benefits,” Thomas says. “But the risks in the information age are also very real, particularly if organisations are cavalier about sharing.”

Sharing information is important for cross-agency and cross-sector work. Not sharing it can lead to service users falling through the cracks. But many organisations are not clear about what the Data Protection Act involves, causing barriers in access to vital information. “We are all suppos- edly in the same game but everyone has different rules,” says Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council. The review also recommends that the legal framework for data sharing be simplified and calls for an Information Commission to give the office greater powers in policing the handling of personal information.

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