Looks to me as if the Data Protection Act 1998 did away with the ‘public interest immunity’ excuse as of March 2000 except where access was sought through the courts
See the article; Access to Social Care Records by Peter Garsden at
http://www.abny.demon.co.uk/acal/Newsletter(Oct2000).htm
Certainly he seems to think that local authorities can no longer use PII as an excuse. Perhaps voluntary agencies are different but I would not have thought so.
Though Barnardos is of course a bit of a law unto its self. Individual and corporate backside covering are a priority for Barnardos. Gotta protect that £100,000,000 figure no matter how much you hurt others in the process.
Whatever has happened to that $400,000,000 class action for lack of feducuiary care, in Canada? Not what you'd expect a "careing organisation" to be facing.
Any further opinions from anyone here would be welcome
Robin Harritt