Access to information: personal data - data handling guarantee

This page provides information about the way we handle personal data, and about how you can request information about the personal data we hold under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Public service guarantee on data handling

The Cabinet Office's Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU) report Privacy and data-sharing: the way forward for public services recommended that public bodies should have a public service guarantee on data handling to inform people of their rights when they supply personal information to the public sector.

Defra and its Executive Agencies has adopted the guarantee and it is displayed in public areas throughout the Defra estate. An explanation of each of the promises in the guarantee is provided to inform you how Defra meets the commitments when handling personal information. See:

• Defra's public service guarantee on data handling (50 KB)

  • Explanation of each of the promises in the guarantee (55 KB) - updated February 2006

• Defra's public service guarantee on data handling - Welsh version (43 KB)
  • Explanation of each of the promises in the guarantee - Welsh version (34 KB)

Further information is available on our Help page about downloading or reading Adobe Acrobat documents.

Data Protection Act - your right of access to your personal information

Section 7 of the Data Protection Act gives individuals the right to request organisations to provide them with certain information concerning them. Defra is fully committed to allowing individuals to exercise their rights under the Data Protection Act and to providing individuals with easy access to their personal information held by Defra.

If you would like to receive personal information concerning you held by Defra, please write to:

David Waller
Defra
Area 1E
3-8 Whitehall Place
London SW1A 2HH

Tel: 020 7270 8867
Fax: 020 7270 8970

Please include the following information and documentation when submitting your request:

• a cheque or postal order for £10.00 made payable to "Defra";

• proof of identity. If you have a CPH number for your farming business, that will suffice as proof of identity. Please include all of your CPH numbers. If you do not have a CPH number, please provide some other form of identification, such as a recent utility bill (the original document, not a copy, which will be returned to you), a copy of the page in your passport showing your personal details (ie the page containing your photograph) or a copy of your driving licence. If you do not have any of these forms of identification, please telephone the Data Protection Officer on the above telephone number and he will assist you.

• any information that will enable us to locate the data that you are seeking. For example it would be helpful to know the subject matter of the information, details of the offices with whom you have been in contact and approximate dates of the contact. Please provide any other details which would enable us to locate the data that you are seeking. If you need any assistance in determining the sort of information that you need to provide, please telephone the Data Protection Officer on the above telephone number.

Data Access Response Traceability system (DART)

Under section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998, all data controllers (in this case Defra) have to respond to a Subject Access Request (SAR) within 40 days of receipt of the request.

This DART table shows Defra's record in handling the requests. DART includes only those SARs notified to Defra's Data Protection Officer.

* DART does not include figures for the Rural Payments Agency (RPA). For RPA details, please phone the RPA Access to Information Helpline on 0118 953 1466.

** For the purpose of this table, the year in the first column is determined by the date the SAR was received.

*** Comments concerning late SARs:

2002

• Two further documents were sent after the 40-day deadline for one SAR.
• For another SAR, papers were sent to data subject 2 days after the 40-day deadline.

2003

• Further documents were sent 6 days after the 40-day deadline in one case.