Data Protection Act

Question 1

What year was the data protection act brought into legislation?

Answer 1

1998

Question 2

What are the 8 main principles of the DPA?

Answer 2

• Data must be used for the specific purpose it was collected
• Data must not be disclosed to other parties without the consent of the individual whom it is about
• Individuals have a right of access to the information held about them
• Personal information may be kept for no longer than is necessary and must be kept up-to-date
• Personal information may not be transmitted outside the European Union unless consent has been given
• All entities (e.g. a GP surgery) that process personal information must register with the Information Commissioner’s Office
• Adequate security measures must be in place. Those include technical measures (e.g. passwords, firewalls) and organisational measures (e.g. staff training)
• Subjects (i.e. patients) have the right to have factually incorrect information about them corrected