The Guardian has reported today that Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude is expected to announce plans to increase the ability of government departments to share private citizen data.

Blair’s 2007 proposal to amend the Data Protection Act in the name of efficiency was met with strong opposition from privacy and civil liberties campaigners. Francis Maude’s latest proposal plans to increase the ability for departments to share data, in order to make it easier for government and public-sector organisations to share confidential information supplied by the public.

The proposal has encouraged the Information Commissioner's Office to produce a Data Sharing Code of Practice, explaining that personal data can only be shared between organisations if it is used for "the prevention or detection of crime; the apprehension or prosecution of offenders; the assessment or collection of tax or duty".