Custodial sentences for data protection offences
Daniel Morgan Panel · The Report of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel · Issued 15 June 2021 · Addressed to: Home Office
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation, Volume 1
Given the potential seriousness of such offences, it is recommended that the Government take an early opportunity to amend the Data Protection Act 2018 to provide for sentences of imprisonment for offenders.
Daniel Morgan Panel, The Report of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel · 15 Jun 2021 Source PDF →
Response — verbatim from government
●Home Office
The Data Protection Act 2018 has already, however, strengthened criminal sanctions. The offence of unlawfully obtaining data was widened to include the unlawful retention of data. The maximum penalty for a person convicted of that offence is an unlimited fine. The 2018 Act also made changes to make the offences recordable for the first time. Consequently, having carefully considered the evidence, the Government does not feel that the introduction of custodial sentences would be a proportionate response to data protection offences at this time.
Home Office · 22 Jun 2023 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
No published activity has been recorded against this recommendation yet.
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