Liverpool Council fined £300 for not responding to information notice issued in DPA case

Liverpool Council fined £300 for not responding to information notice issued in DPA case

Liverpool City Council has become the first local authority to be fined in the magistrates court under the Data Protection Act. The council was been fined £300 after being prosecuted for data protection offences after failure to provide a woman with legally requested information.

In the first prosecution brought by the Information Commissioner for failure to comply with an information notice, the council pleaded guilty.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) had commenced an investigation after receiving a complaint about the way in which Liverpool City Council had processed a subject access request. The ICO then attempted to contact Liverpool City Council on several occasions by letter and telephone but the council did not respond.

As the council had failed to respond to an information notice that had been issued in respect of another matter that was running in parallel, the ICO issued an information notice in respect of both matters to the chief executive of the council, Colin Hilton, by recorded delivery on June 15, 2006. No response was received by 20 July 2006, and the matter was taken to court.

Woman wins historic victory over city council's data breach (icliverpool.co.uk website, 19 December 2006)