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Policy & Resources has been "reprimanded" by the Data Protection Authority, which found the way it had a report compiled breached the island's law.
The breach occurred when P&R commissioned a report into Home Affairs, assessing its "good governance".
Home Affairs said before the report was done that it thought P&R would be breaking data protection laws, but the process went on anyway, and four of the members on Home at the time made formal complaints to the DPA.
In a statement today, the Data Protection Authority said: "The Authority finds that The Policy and Resources Committee did not provide the complainants with the information they had a right to be given, before or at the time, their personal data was collected as part of a review of committee governance.
"The Authority is therefore satisfied that The Policy and Resources Committee failed to comply with section 12(3) relating to “Right to information for personal data collected from data subject."
Pictured: The former Committee for Home Affairs, who penned a response to the DPA's announcement.
While the DPA said it recognised that P&R had made an early admission to the breach, it also pointed out that it had slowed down the investigation through "repeated failure to answer a question posed".
"Considering the above factors, the Authority has, by written notice to The Policy and Resources Committee, imposed a formal Reprimand."
After the report was published last year, two of the deputies on Home Affairs resigned from the Committee, because they felt they would be best placed to criticise the process from the outside.
The five members who were on the committee at the time have issued a statement following the DPA's announcement.
Pictured: P&R broke data protection laws.
Deputies Mary Lowe, the then and now President, Victoria Oliver, Marc Leadbeater, Rob Prow and Richard Graham said: "The Office of Data Protection Authority investigated our complaint against the Policy & Resources Committee and we note in their media release that they faced ‘A lack of co- operation by the Policy & Resources Committee by its repeated failure to answer a question posed’. This does reflect in part the treatment we all received as members of Home Affairs who met with the Policy & Resources Committee and advised them that in our opinion they were breaking the Data Protection Law with the Good Governance Report carried out by Professor Staite.
"They were not prepared to listen to us. We also followed this up with a letter advising Policy & Resources that the legal advice we had sought came to the same conclusion."
The former Committee pointed out the irony of P&R breaking the law to start a review of good governance: "The formal Office of Data Protection Authority reprimand demonstrates that the review’s methodology was not fit for purpose.
"This breach was a major contributing factor in the decision made by two former members, Deputies Prow & Graham, of the Home Affairs Committee to resign over the way the review was commissioned and conducted. Despite being replaced by very able Deputies, their departure caused a disruption to the ability of the Committee to progress its important Committee responsibilities.
"We the undersigned move on now that the Office of Data Protection have completed their investigation, in the hope that lessons have been learned and will be acted upon."
Since this report was published, and the complaints were made, P&R and Home Affairs have started attending oversight meetings together. Yesterday, Express reported that the relationship between the committees had improved.
Pictured top: Deputies Gavin St Pier, Lyndon Trott and Jonathan Le Tocq, three members of P&R.
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