Vol. 543 No. 3
167 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he has accepted the recommendation of the Data Protection Commissioner that individuals who have high privacy expectations may choose to withhold their personal data and that the provision of public services to a citizen should not be contingent upon the citizen's participation in the Reach data base as quoted in the Annual Report, 2000 of the Data Protection Commissioner. [27228/01]
The Reach agency has a mandate to develop a particular service delivery model known as the public services broker. This model is being adopted in the interests of efficiency, economy, speed of deployment and maximising the possibilities for future service and business process integration in the public service. A central feature of the model is that a certain set of services that are common to some or all public service agencies will, in the future, be carried out centrally by the public services broker. The broker will also provide customer data services. These customer data services will include secure personal customer data stores or data vaults under the individual customer's control, referred to as the reach database by the Data Protection Commissioner, in which customers may store commonly used items of data to support their requests for service from public service agencies.
In line with e-government objectives, public service delivery agencies will, in the future, be required to deliver their services through the broker and to use its common services. There is, however, no requirement that this be the exclusive means by which public services be delivered. If a person does not wish to use the data vault services, he or she will have the option of producing any necessary supporting data or documentation in the traditional way.
In offering services to the public, public service agencies specify the information that customers need to provide to avail of the services they offer as well as the manner in which the service is provided. In its consultation with public service agencies regarding the changes they are going to make to their service delivery processes in adapting to the broker model, reach will ensure that public service agencies bear in mind the recommendation of the Data Protection Commissioner that services also continue to be provided by traditional means.
Data protection principles and respect for the privacy of the customer are at the heart of the broker philosophy. Reach sees data protection as an enabler and facilitator of the broker and as a means of securing public trust in the model it is developing. Reach maintains regular contact with the Data Protection Commissioner to develop and maintain best practice in implementing data protection principles.
