MOJ hands Information Commissioner power to hand out £500k penalties

The government is to press ahead with plans to give the Information Commissioner the power to impose penalties of up to £500,000 for serious breaches of data protection principles.

Publishing its response to the consultation Civil Monetary Penalties – Setting the maximum penalty, the Ministry of Justice said the majority of respondents were in favour of the move.

Of the 52 respondents, 27 said £500,000 was the correct level of maximum penalty for those who either deliberately or knowingly seriously contravene data protections principles. A further eight said it should be increased further still, while nine thought it was too high. The rest did not answer the question directly.

Arguing that the threat of £500,000 fines should act as a “strong deterrent”, Justice Minister Peter Wills said: “Civil monetary penalties of up to half a million pounds will ensure that the Information Commissioner is able to impose robust sanctions on those who commit serious contraventions of the data protection principles.

“Most data controllers do comply with the principles but since misuse of even small amounts of personal data can have very serious consequences, it is vital that we do all that we can to prevent non-compliance.”

The civil monetary framework regulations, which have been laid before Parliament, hand the Information Commissioner the power to serve these penalty notices. The new regime, which requires Parliamentary approval, is expected to come into force on 6 April 2010.

Local authorities and other public sector bodies – including central government department and NHS trusts – repeatedly fell foul of data protection laws in 2009. The prospect of significantly higher fines has prompted calls for councils to raise their game when it comes to securing data.

The Information Commissioner is also soon to have the power to conduct spot checks of central government departments for compliance, and it is predicted that this will soon be extended to other public sector organisations – including local authorities – in due course.