Domestic Abuse Act 2021

81 Review of processing of victims’ personal data for immigration purposes

(1) The Secretary of State must, before the end of the relevant period—

(a) review the processing of domestic abuse data carried out by specified public authorities for immigration purposes,

(b) prepare and publish a report setting out the findings of the review, and

(c) lay a copy of the report before Parliament.

(2) In carrying out the review, the Secretary of State must have regard to the recommendations of the HMIC Report.

(3) In subsection (1), the “relevant period” means the period beginning with the day on which this section comes into force and ending with 30 June 2021 (but see subsection (4)).

(4) The Secretary of State may by regulations extend the relevant period by a further period of up to 6 months.

(5) The power conferred by subsection (4) may be exercised only once.

(6) In this section—

• “domestic abuse data” means personal data obtained for the purposes of, or in connection with, the provision of support in relation to domestic abuse to victims of domestic abuse or their children;

• “the HMIC Report” means the report on Liberty and Southall Black Sisters’ super-complaint on policing and immigration status published by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary on 17 December 2020;

• “immigration officer” means a person appointed as an immigration officer under paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to the Immigration Act 1971;

• “immigration purposes” means the purposes of—

  (a)

  the maintenance of effective immigration control, or

  (b)

  the investigation or detection of activities that would undermine the maintenance of effective immigration control;

• “personal data” has the meaning given by section 3(2) of the Data Protection Act 2018;

• “processing” has the meaning given by section 3(4) of that Act;

• “specified public authority” means—

  (a)

  a chief officer of police of a police force maintained for a police area in England and Wales;

  (b)

  the chief constable of the Police Service of Scotland;

  (c)

  the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland;

  (d)

  the Chief Constable of the British Transport Police Force;

  (e)

  the Chief Constable of the Ministry of Defence Police;

  (f)

  an immigration officer or other official of the Secretary of State exercising functions in relation to immigration or asylum.