Scottish Borders Council responds to monetary penalty

Graham Ford • Published 11 Sep 2012 13:36

Scottish Borders Council have issued a statement following their fine of £250,000 from the Information Commission Office, after former employees' pension records were found in an over-filled paper recycle bank in a supermarket car park.

Responding to the monetary penalty issued by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), Tracey Logan, Chief Executive of Scottish Borders Council (SBC) said: "It is very disappointing to receive such a high monetary penalty from the ICO especially in the current economic climate.

"We do acknowledge the seriousness of this breach and have already taken steps to ensure data protection continues to be a priority across the council. We are fully committed to the complying with the terms set out in the ICO's undertaking.

"All contracts with suppliers are now established and monitored by our specialist central procurement staff and we will continue to train, support and raise awareness among staff and contractors on the importance of data protection.

"This additional expenditure is obviously unhelpful at a time when public funding is already stretched.

"We do have robust financial monitoring processes in place across the council however and have always ensured we have the funds available to cover such unforeseen costs within our reserves."

Scottish Borders Council employed an outside company to digitise the records, but failed to seek appropriate guarantees on how the personal data would be kept secure.

That prompted the Information Commissioner to use his powers under the Data Protection Act to impose a Civil Monetary Penalty of £250,000 on the Council.

The Data Protection Act requires that, if you decide to use another organisation to process personal data for you, you remain legally responsible for the security of the data and for protecting the rights of the individuals whose data is being processed.

But Scottish Borders Council put no contract in place with the third party processor, sought no guarantees on the technical and organisational security protecting the records and did not make sufficient attempts to monitor how the data was being handled.

It is believed more than 600 files were deposited at the recycle bins, containing confidential information and, in a significant number of cases, salary and bank account details. The files were spotted by a member of the public who called police, prompting the recovery of 676 files. A further 172 files deposited on the same day but at a different paper recycling bank are thought to have been destroyed in the recycling process.

Ken Macdonald, ICO Assistant Commissioner for Scotland, said: "This is a classic case of an organisation taking its eye off the ball when it came to outsourcing. When the Council decided to contract out the digitising of these records, they handed large volumes of confidential information to an outside company without performing sufficient checks on how securely the information would be kept, and without even putting a contract in place.

"It is only good fortune that these records were found by someone sensible enough to call the police. It is easy to imagine other circumstances where this information could have exposed people to identity fraud and possible financial loss through no fault of their own.

"If one positive can come out of this, it is that other organisations realise the importance of properly managing third parties who process personal data. The Data Protection Act is very clear where the responsibility for the security of that information remains, and what penalties await those who do not comply with the law."

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