Requests for personal information: The Data Protection Act
1998
You have a statutory right
of access (certain exemptions apply) to personal data about
yourself under the Data Protection Act 1998. The right of access
here is to personal data held on computer or on structured manual
files and you are entitled to be informed whether any personal data
concerning yourself is being held by the "data controller" i.e.,
Cafcass, and, if so:
· to be given a description of the data in question
· to be told for what purposes the data are processed
· to be told of the recipients or classes of recipients to whom the
data are or may be disclosed.
You are also entitled to be given a copy of the information with
any unintelligible terms explained and to be given any information
available to Cafcass as to the source of the data. The Freedom of
Information Act will extend this right to access to personal data
held on any type of file, with effect from 1 January 2005.
If you wish to apply for access to your personal data (an
application known as a 'Subject Access Request'), you should write
to the local Cafcass office which is dealing with, or dealt with,
your case. A request for access to personal data must be dealt with
promptly and, in any event, within 40 days of receipt of the
request. We may charge a fee of £10.