Chapter IDG30440
| Published date | 19 March 2016 |
| Record Number | IDG30440 |
| Court | HM Revenue & Customs |
| Issuer | HM Revenue & Customs |
Written Enquiries from MPs
Customers sometimes write to their MPs raising issues about their tax affairs or other dealings with HMRC.
As a general rule you must not disclose customer information to a third party without the specific written consent of the customer (see IDG30210). However, a customer may ask their elected representative (whether MP, MEP etc.) for help when they have been unable to satisfactorily sort out a problem with HMRC.
If an MP writes on behalf of their constituent you can assume that by involving their MP the customer has, by implication, given consent for you to disclose confidential information that concerns the enquiry when you reply to the MP. This is called implied consent which in these specific circumstances is allowed by Data Protection Legislation (including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018).
When disclosing information based on implied consent you can reasonably assume that the customer has consented to disclosure of information about the specific enquiry.
Under Data Protection Legislation you must ensure that the personal data disclosed is adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purpose of responding to the request from the MP. You cannot assume that the customer has consented to you disclosing information that does not concern the enquiry made. In addition, it will rarely be necessary to disclose all the information we have about a customer.
Special Category Customers
Specific provisions in the DPA 2018 apply when disclosure to elected representatives involves special category or criminal offence data.
Special category data is data identifying: race; ethnic origin; politics; religion; trade union membership; genetics; biometrics (where used for ID purposes); health; sex life; or sexual orientation.
Criminal offence data is personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences, or related security measures.
When disclosure involves special category or criminal offence data we have an additional responsibility to our customers to be satisfied that:
- any disclosure of information is made in response to a request received by the MP from one of their constituents;
- the information we disclose is relevant to the subject of the request made by the constituent; and
- the information we disclose is necessary to enable the MP to respond to...
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