Super ID database ‘doomed by court decision’

SNP plans for a super ID database network have been dealt a fatal blow by the Supreme Court judgment on the Named Person scheme, experts claim.

Last month, five law lords struck down ministers’ proposals to assign a state guardian for every child, insisting their powers to seek out and share data were a breach of families’ right to a private life.

Now it is believed the damning ruling may also kill off another project described by critics as ‘Orwellian’.

In 2014, the Scottish Government sparked fury when it unveiled plans to expand the NHS Central Register (NHSCR) and use it to link up public sector files across Scotland.

The reforms would create the technical capability for officials to conduct data trawls on individuals in minute detail.

Although they were savaged in a public consultation last year, ministers have insisted the changes are still in the pipeline. But experts say the Supreme Court’s intervention may have left that plan in ruins too.

Data protection consultant Tim Turner, of the 2040 Information Law blog, claims the SNP will now have to scrap both projects or go ahead with them in a neutered form.

He said: ‘If they look at the Supreme Court judgment and think all they need to do is write some more specific guidance, I think the NHSCR proposals may go ahead but fail for the same reasons.

‘The Scottish Government fall prey to a mindset that if they give themselves a power to do something, data protection and human rights privacy are automatically taken care of. Sometimes, they just don’t think of them at all.

‘The bigger the project, the wider and looser the objectives, the more data that they want to gather, the harder it becomes [to justify legally].

‘It’s easy to say that a one-off disclosure is necessary in a risky situation but it’s very hard to say that a massive data sharing initiative is necessary in every case.’

Mr Turner added: ‘The previous UK Labour Government had two schemes – one for ID cards and one for a universal children’s register, ContactPoint.

‘Both foundered because of public concern and the biggest source of concern was that they were too wide and were not focused on solving specific problems. The Scottish Government may not have learned that lesson.’

The NHSCR was set up in the 1950s to help track patients as they moved around the country. However, it has since been taken over by Government agency National Records Scotland.

Everyone born north of the Border or registered with a GP here is on the database and has been given a Unique Citizen Reference Number (UCRN).

It now also includes a range of personal details including date of birth, mother’s maiden name, address details and indicators of history of cancer and military service. The Scottish Government’s own guidelines say the public sector should avoid using ‘persistent identifiers’.

But in December 2014, ministers unveiled plans to ‘seed’ the UCRN right across public sector databases, in effect linking them up into a single structure which could allow officials to gather fine-detailed dossiers on individuals at ease and in secret.

Police, government staff, the Ministry of Defence, health boards, lawyers, housing associations, charities and even public bodies such as Quality Meat Scotland and Scottish Canals would also have extended powers to interrogate the national databank for basic ID details.

It was also proposed to share the NHSCR with the taxman so a list could be drawn of those eligible to pay the new Scottish rate of income tax.

Scots’ details on the NHSCR have been given out 20 million times in fewer than ten years.

Data privacy campaigner Dr John Welford said: ‘The Supreme Court ruling may prove to be a very far-reaching judgment. It makes clear that an all-encompassing “database state” does not trump the liberties of individuals and families.

‘The Scottish Government should not just look again at the Named Person scheme but undertake a thorough review of all policies and strategies that risk crossing this line.

‘The Orwellian NHSCR reforms clearly do so and should be scrapped immediately.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We are considering responses to our consultation and will outline the way forward to parliament in due course.’