Information Commissioner

House of Lords written question – answered at on 21 March 2005.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Lord Lea of Crondall Lord Lea of Crondall Labour

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What steps they are taking to evaluate the effectiveness of the Information Commissioner in:

(a) ensuring that marketing companies, when notified of telephone numbers that are registered as not wishing to receive cold calls, comply with the relevant order; and

(b) giving clear details of a one-stop shop for complaints, so that infringements of such orders can be investigated.

Photo of Baroness Ashton of Upholland Baroness Ashton of Upholland Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Constitutional Affairs)

The Information Commissioner is a statutory supervisory authority, fully independent of government, established to oversee the operation of the Data Protection Act 1998, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003. Consequently, he has responsibility for enforcing the statutory regime, including compliance by marketing companies and dealing with complaints. The commissioner is required to lay an annual report before Parliament on the exercise of his functions under the legislation for which he has enforcement responsibility.

The Department for Constitutional Affairs has a limited sponsorship role in relation to the Information Commissioner's Office, covering financial and business planning matters. Ministers from the department meet with the Information Commissioner on a regular basis to discuss particular issues of concern with regard to both freedom of information and data protection policy matters.

Does this answer the above question?

Yes2 people think so

No0 people think not

Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.