To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security to what investigations his Department has been subject by the Data Protection Registrar in relation to a suspected breach of a data protection principle; if he will summarise the nature of each complaint and state when the complaint was made; and what remedial action was taken by his Department to ensure future compliance with the principle subject to the investigation.
Between 11 November 1987 and 31 March 1993 the Department has responded to 15,094 requests from data subjects for access to its computer files. In this same period, 44 complaints concerning suspected breaches of data protection principles have been received from data subjects via the Office of Data Protection Registrar. The principles involved and the dates on which the complaints were made are in the table.
| Complaint type | Number received | Dates received |
| Principle 1 | 4 | 21 June 1990 |
| 30 September 1991 | ||
| 8 June 1992 | ||
| 21 July 1992 | ||
| Principle 3 | 4 | 7 March 1988 |
| 11 July 1988 | ||
| 13 February 1989 | ||
| 19 March 1991 | ||
| Principle 4 | 1 | 12 April 1992 |
| Principle 5 | 13 | 11 November 1988 |
| 31 July 1989 | ||
| 1 March 1990 | ||
| 5 March 1990 | ||
| 24 July 1990 | ||
| 18 March 1991 | ||
| 14 May 1991 | ||
| 20 July 1991 | ||
| 22 July 1991 | ||
| 29 July 1992 | ||
| 30 September 1992 | ||
| 27 October 1992 | ||
| 3 March 1993 |
| Complaint type | Number received | Dates received |
| Principle 7 | 17 | 3 February 1988 |
| 7 March 1988 | ||
| 3 June 1988 | ||
| 15 June 1988 | ||
| 22 August 1988 | ||
| 26 October 1988 | ||
| 26 April 1990 | ||
| 24 October 1990 | ||
| 20 December 1990 | ||
| 18 December 1991 | ||
| 13 May 1992 | ||
| 9 June 1992 | ||
| 6 July 1992 | ||
| 8 December 1992 | ||
| 25 January 1993 | ||
| 9 March 1993 | ||
| 19 March 1993 | ||
| Principle 8 | 5 | 26 September 1990 |
| 26 November 1991 | ||
| 3 December 1991 | ||
| 7 July 1992 | ||
| 14 January 1993 |