Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of subject access requests made to the Subject Access Team of the Ministry of Justice have been responded to within the correct timescale since the General Data Protection Regulation came into force; and what steps she is taking to reduce the volume of those requests.

I can confirm that the proportion of subject access requests made to the Ministry of Justice since June 2018 that were responded to within time is 75%. This figure includes requests received up to and including March 2019, representing the latest available performance results.

The Ministry of Justice takes its data protection responsibilities seriously. We have seen a significant increase in the numbers of subject access requests received since the General Data Protection Regulation came into force. We have developed plans to address this increase and taken steps to achieve the desired level of performance. We have:

• Reviewed and improved working practices and streamlined staff training
• Increased staffing levels
• Invested in technology and we are conducting a trial to release more information to offenders in prison.

The volume of subject access requests received by the department is beyond its control. Since the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation and the accompanying Data Protection Act 2018 on the 25 May 2018, the number of SARs have increased by 160% from offenders and 55% from MoJ staff and members of the public.