Parish called out for data protection rule breach

The commissioner said the parish had broken the data protection law

A parish in Jersey has been formally called out for passing on the wrong person's personal information to a debt collector.

Jersey's Office of the Information Commissioner (JOIC) said the Parish of Grouville had broken the data protection law.

It said it had wrongly identifying someone for owing parish rates as they had the same name as the person who owed the money.

The Constable of Grouville Mark Labey said the parish had "learnt a lot" from the mistake and it would "never happen again".

He said: "It was a mistake, an understandable one albeit, but we assumed things - you should never assume things, that's a lesson to start with.

"Now all the team we have at Grouville parish hall are completely cognisant with everything that's gone on and they're all highly trained now."

A spokesperson for JOIC said the parish accessed the person's information and passed it on to a debt collection agency.

JOIC ordered Grouville to review its outstanding rates process and update its privacy policy.