Pressure to reverse ban on big celebrations and milestone anniversaries notification

THE Information Commissioner’s Office will pressure Scotland’s national archives to reverse its decision, scrapping the long-standing tradition of notifying local authorities about milestone anniversaries.

National Records of Scotland is no longer informing councils about 100th birthdays and couples due to celebrate their 60-year diamond weddings.

The information was typically used to make special arrangements for those involved, such as a delivery of flowers or a visit from the local Lord Provost.

The NRS has justified the decision by claiming the long-standing practice was in breach of the Data Protection Act.

But in a letter to The Scotsman, Ken Macdonald, ICO’s assistant commissioner for Scotland, said the authority would be contacting the NRS to address the “apparent confusion”.

Mr Macdonald said: “The Data Protection Act plays a very important role in protecting our personal information, but ought not to be a barrier to sensible information sharing.Sometimes organisations misunderstand the law or simply use data protection as a duck out.”