ABSTRACT
The data protection Act 1998 places duties and responsibilities on those who process personal data to safeguard its use and its security and not to keep any personal data for longer than is necessary. The Information Commissioner oversees both the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the data protection act 1998. Certain third parties may therefore require disclosure of an individual's personal data by an employer. The data protection act 1998 provides certain exemptions for 'research purposes' including statistical or historical purposes. In durant the court of appeal did not consider the issue of the 'identifiability' of an individual, but concentrated on the meaning of 'relate to'. Companies following good practice would ideally have a document retention policy and monitoring programme that is communicated to all staff. This may involve training, not only about the legal issues involved, but also why having organised records benefits the business.
