Data Protection (Processing of Sensitive Personal Data) Order 2009

I thank the Minister for the explanation that he has just given us. On the face of it, this seems to be perfectly reasonable in that it gives more channels of accountability. He cited some figures, but I was not quite clear whether he gave us an estimate of how many people would fall into this category per year. Obviously we would not know how many offenders each Member of Parliament would be likely to get on their books. As the noble Lord, Lord Henley, said, will this apply to where someone came from or where they will be released to? I think the Notes refer to where they will be released to, but where they came from is obviously of some interest too because their associates and their family may still be there. I have a number of other queries. Obviously there is no attempt to include in the provisions the leader of the relevant local authority, although the leader has responsibility for the LEA, for certain types of housing provision and for various services that would probably make them as relevant a person as the MP. What if the MP is not happy with the arrangements that are in place? This information is there so that he can satisfy himself about them. Can he veto any proposals made to him? What happens at election time? Is there an automatic transfer of this information to the newly elected MP, or would the process start again so that an incoming MP would have a whole list to go through, having signed the appropriate paper mentioned by the order? What about MPs’ staff? Presumably his or her staff would have to be involved in the record keeping and so on, so presumably they would be covered by the arrangements that are mentioned here. Finally, how will the data be sent to the MP? Will they be sent by e-mail or by post?