Explanatory note

This Order exempts from the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1984 which entitle individuals to gain access to personal data held about them (“the subject access provisions”) data, the disclosure of which is prohibited or restricted by certain enactments and subordinate instruments, in the interests of protecting the subject of the data himself or some other individual. The subject access provisions are section 21 of the 1984 Act and the provisions of Part II which confer powers on the Data Protection Registrar to ensure observance of paragraph (a) of the seventh data protection principle contained in Schedule 1.

The data which are exempted by the Order from the subject access provisions concern information contained in adoption records and reports and statements and records of the special educational needs of children in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and, in Scotland, information provided by reporters for the purposes of a children’s hearing.