Clarity sought on RSPCA access

Fieldsports organisations are trying to discover the extent of the RSPCA’s access to sensitive information through the Police National Computer. Of the 39 forces that the Countryside Alliance (CA) sent Freedom of Information requests to, 10 have responded saying that they have a formal Information Sharing Agreement (ISA) with the RSPCA.

Sir Barney White-Spunner, the executive chairman of the CA, has written to the Information Commissioner to question the legal authority of the agreements and to express the CA’s deep concern that the RSPCA is not audited in how it uses the information. There is also concern that the charity has access to firearms licensing information as well as other information that may throw up serious data protection concerns. The CA told Shooting Times that it has received a reply saying that the Information Commissioner is “looking into it”.

The rest of this article appears in the 21st August issue of Shooting Times.

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