Authority to provide information to Cumbrian District Councils

Dear Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency,

I would like to know:

a) Under what authority do you provide registered keeper details
to:

i) Allerdale Borough Council
ii) Copeland Borough Council
iii) Eden District Council
iv) Barrow Borough Council
v) Carlisle City Council
vi) South Lakeland District Council
vii) Cumbria County Council

b) if you refer to any legislation, please refer me directly to the
applicable section(s) and paragraph(s

c) Prior to pointing me in the direction of any legislation, please
ensure that your answers give due regard to any European laws and
directives which may supersede this legislation e.g. the Data
Protection Act

Yours faithfully,

Mark Jenkinson

Dear Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Driver and Vehicle
Licensing Agency's handling of my FOI request 'Authority to provide
information to Cumbrian District Councils'.

Your response to my request was:

"Regulation 27 1(a) of the Road Vehicles (Registration and
Licensing) Regulations 2002 requires DVLA to release information
from the vehicle register to the police, to local authorities for
purposes associated with the investigation of an offence or
decriminalised parking contravention."

In actual fact, regulation 27 1 (a) i states that you can provide
information to a local authority for any purpose connected with the
investigation of an offence.

Decriminalised parking contraventions are not offences.

Regulation 27 1 (a) iii states that you can provide information to
a local authority in England and Wales, for any purpose connected
with its activities as an enforcement authority within the meaning
of Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004.

Since (a)(iii) is specific to the Traffic Management Act 2004 I
think it safe to conclude that, in writing this particular
regulation, the Secretary of State gave enforcement authorities
specific rights to obtain details via this provision rather than
(a)(i-) which relates to offences that don't fall under the 2004
act.

The only council on the list that can be classed as an enforcement
authority is Cumbria County Council, the rest are their agents and
in releasing personal information to them you are breaking the law.

Notwithstanding the above, The Data Protection Act 1998 prevents
the sharing of personal data excepting a few reasons which do not
include decriminalised motoring allegations.

That this information is then used to directly bring harm, by
subsequent enforcement methods, to those exposed by its release
also violates Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

These are both European directives which this country has signed to
uphold. Thus they cannot be ignored or superseded by national laws,
such as the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations
2002, or ill thought assumptions on imagined 'exemptions'.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/au...

Yours faithfully,

Mark Jenkinson

Dear FOI FOI,

Thanks.

Please supply a copy of the agreements between each of these
councils and the DVLA

How do you verify the authorities stated 'reasonable cause'.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Jenkinson

Dear FOI FOI,

I am asking for ALL agreements between the DVLA and those district
councils for sharing information electronically.

I assume that some form of application form should have been
completed following a 6 month probationary period. I would also
assume that one single application would cover all reasons for
requesting information and that said form would list the reasons
that councils would require electronic access.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Jenkinson

Dear FOI FOI,

Have I now given you the requisite clarification? I haven't had an
acknowledgment for my most recent communication.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Jenkinson