The FTT has granted an application by the Information Commissioner for an extension dated of the existing stay on information rights cases. On 27 April 2020, the Chamber President directed that the general stay be extended from 29 April until 27 May 2020 on the same terms.
Health Records and the Deceased
The Access to Health Records Act 1990 is an oft-overlooked member of the information rights family, but it can have a useful role to play. In the case of Re AB [2020] EWHC 691 (Fam) (Re AB) it was important because the applicant was the personal representative seeking the health records of a deceased sibling; precisely the sort of territory to which data protection law does not apply. Continue reading
Coronavirus: A Regulatory Update
There are not many areas of law entirely unaffected by the coronavirus (it comes to something when even wills and trusts starts to look important) but data protection has a place at the vanguard. As the situation continues to develop, there are more and more updates. Here are a collected few. Continue reading
The Non-Disclosure and Barring Service: Victim Access to Information
If you believe that an individual who works with children sexually assaulted you, but was never prosecuted for that allegation, it is understandable that you might wish to know whether that person has been placed on the formal list of persons barred from engaging in regulated activity with children, run by the Disclosure and Barring Service (“DBS”). But it is also understandable why the DBS might not wish to tell you (and thereby the public at large) who is or is not barred, and even more so why the individual accused would not wish that to be revealed. Who’s rights win out? Continue reading
First-Tier Tribunal suspends all information rights cases for 28 days
By Directions dated 1 April 2020, the FTT has issued a general stay of ALL PROCEEDINGS under section 48 of the Data Protection Act 1998, section 162 of the Data Protection Act 2018 and section 57 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, lasting 28 days from the date of the Directions. The stay will not apply to cases with specific directions issued on or after 1 April 28 days, and Parties can apply for a variation in a particular case, giving reasons and copying the Information Commissioner.
Please find the Notice here.
Atkinson v Equifax: representative action withdrawn
Having blogged earlier today about a very happy outcome in Morrisons, I now want to share with you some important news concerning another large-scale privacy action, namely Atkinson v Equifax Ltd. Continue reading