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.

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.