Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
You surely don't object to councils using any legal means available to ensure that local people get the services they are entitled to, and that fraudsters are punished, I take it?
|
Actually, I'm not sure if I do support "any legal means available". While I do tend to trust the 'headline' groups mentioned in the original bill, specifically "the Security Service, the Secret Intelligence Service and the Government Communications Headquarters", I'm less happy with the later expanded list of allowed recipients, particulalry the local authorities and I have a number of reservations about their suitability to be conducting that sort of investigation and dealing with the resulting personal data.
As you say "as a result of this, four children can now attend the school of their choice who would otherwise not have been able to do so." On the other hand, being a pragmatic sort, I can't help wondering what was the cost of the investigation to the council & whether, had that cost not been incurred but had been passed to the school, whether they'd have been able to cater for those pupils anyway. That's not, of course, something that's every going to be able to be tested either way, though...