Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many data controllers were registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office on the most recent date for which figures are available; what income was generated from those organisations' registration fees; and what is their estimate of the annual and total income lost by non-registration.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Data Protection Act 1998 requires every data controller who is processing personal information to register with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) unless they are exempt. The ICO’s website sets out the criteria for notification and provides guidance on the level of fee organisations should be paying. The ICO have also made it easier for organisations to notify and pay the fee by introducing online payments.
At the end of 2014/15 there were 409,000 data controllers registered with the ICO which generated a total income of £17,519,000.
It is for data controllers to seek registration; the ICO periodically reminds organisations of the requirement to notify.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps, including review, audit or other assessment, have been taken by (1) the Ministry of Justice, (2) the Information Commissioner's Office, and (3) any external auditors and advisers, to ensure that every data controller that processes personal information has (a) registered with the Information Commissioner, if required to, (b) paid the correct registration fee in accordance with the tiered structure, and (c) not processed any personal data if it has not registered.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Data Protection Act 1998 requires every data controller who is processing personal information to register with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) unless they are exempt. The ICO’s website sets out the criteria for notification and provides guidance on the level of fee organisations should be paying. The ICO have also made it easier for organisations to notify and pay the fee by introducing online payments.
At the end of 2014/15 there were 409,000 data controllers registered with the ICO which generated a total income of £17,519,000.
It is for data controllers to seek registration; the ICO periodically reminds organisations of the requirement to notify.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much the Information Commissioner's Office will be entitled to spend on data protection activities in the next financial year; and how that figure will be affected if the Information Commissioner's Office registration fee income increases.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Information Commissioner’s Office’s (ICO) income from data protection fees and the corresponding amount remitted to the Consolidated Fund for the last six years is set out in the table below:
Year | Data Protection Fee Income (£’000) | Amount remitted to the Consolidated fund (£’000) |
2014/15 | 17,519 | 0 |
2013/14 | 16,528 | 781 |
2012/13 | 16,055 | 359 |
2011/12 | 15,484 | 446 |
2010/11 | 14,965 | 505 |
2009/10 | 13,192 | 0 |
The amount available to spend each year on data protection activities is dependent on the number of organisations that notify with the ICO. Income for 2015/16 is currently profiled to be £18.5M.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in each of the last six years for which figures are available, how much income was received by the Information Commissioner's Office in respect of its data protection activities; how much of that was spent on such activities; and how much was remitted to the Consolidated Fund.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Information Commissioner’s Office’s (ICO) income from data protection fees and the corresponding amount remitted to the Consolidated Fund for the last six years is set out in the table below:
Year | Data Protection Fee Income (£’000) | Amount remitted to the Consolidated fund (£’000) |
2014/15 | 17,519 | 0 |
2013/14 | 16,528 | 781 |
2012/13 | 16,055 | 359 |
2011/12 | 15,484 | 446 |
2010/11 | 14,965 | 505 |
2009/10 | 13,192 | 0 |
The amount available to spend each year on data protection activities is dependent on the number of organisations that notify with the ICO. Income for 2015/16 is currently profiled to be £18.5M.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps have been, and are being, taken by the Information Commissioner’s Office to ensure that there is no underspend of income allocated for data protection activities by the end of the current financial year, and to ensure that the available income is used for data protection activities rather than being remitted to the Consolidated Fund.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Information Commissioner’s Office’s (ICO) data protection activities are funded by fees from organisations that process personal data. The amount available to spend each year is dependent on the number of organisations that notify with the ICO but is currently profiled to be £18.5M in 2015/16. The ICO has spent £4.7M on data protection activities in the first quarter of 2015/16.
Any money collected but not spent by the ICO is remitted to the Consolidated Fund. The ICO did not remit any data protection income to the Consolidated Fund in 2014/15 and there is a similar expectation for 2015/16.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in respect of data protection activities in the current year by the Information Commissioner’s Office, how much has been spent and how much is still available to spend.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Information Commissioner’s Office’s (ICO) data protection activities are funded by fees from organisations that process personal data. The amount available to spend each year is dependent on the number of organisations that notify with the ICO but is currently profiled to be £18.5M in 2015/16. The ICO has spent £4.7M on data protection activities in the first quarter of 2015/16.
Any money collected but not spent by the ICO is remitted to the Consolidated Fund. The ICO did not remit any data protection income to the Consolidated Fund in 2014/15 and there is a similar expectation for 2015/16.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the amount which the Information Commissioner’s Office can spend on data protection activities in the current financial year has been calculated.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Information Commissioner’s Office’s (ICO) data protection activities are funded by fees from organisations that process personal data. The amount available to spend each year is dependent on the number of organisations that notify with the ICO but is currently profiled to be £18.5M in 2015/16. The ICO has spent £4.7M on data protection activities in the first quarter of 2015/16.
Any money collected but not spent by the ICO is remitted to the Consolidated Fund. The ICO did not remit any data protection income to the Consolidated Fund in 2014/15 and there is a similar expectation for 2015/16.