The findings of the Joint Committee on Human Rights resulting from its legislative scrutiny of the Coroners and Justice Bill were published 20 March 2009. The committee made very clear recommendations that the elements of the bill contained within clauses 151-155 relating to data sharing and the Data Protection Act were unacceptable. It was particularly concerned that the wide ranging bill included too many complex issues for adequate time to be given to constructive debate, and that the government should in fact have introduced two or three separate bills. On the specific matter of information sharing the committee commented as follows:
“ Clause 154 of the Bill provides relevant Ministers, including Ministers in the devolved executives, with a broad power to open an information sharing gateway between two or more persons, by statutory instrument. We reiterate our view that, in principle, information sharing powers should be adequately defined in primary legislation, accompanied by appropriate safeguards and subject to the application of the Data Protection Act 1998.”
The original clause 152, which specifically covered data sharing, has now been withdrawn from the bill. For the full report of the Joint Committee see: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt200809/jtselect/jtrights/57/57.pdf