“Sensitive personal data” is defined in section 2(g) and (h) of the Data Protection Act 1998 to include information as to the commission or alleged commission by a person of any offence, or any proceedings for any offence committed or alleged to have been committed by that person, the disposal of such proceedings or the sentence of any court in such proceedings.

The first data protection principle, set out in paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to the Act, prohibits the processing of “sensitive personal data” unless one of the conditions in Schedule 3 to the Act is met. The condition set out in paragraph 10 of that Schedule is that the personal data are processed in circumstances specified in an order made by the Secretary of State.

This Order specifies that information about a prisoner may be processed for the purpose of informing a Member of Parliament (MP) about that prisoner and arrangements for their release. In practice information will only be released to a MP pursuant to this Order if they have entered into a confidentiality agreement with the Secretary of State for Justice whereby the MP agrees not to further disclose the information. The information that will be released to the MP will be restricted to certain high risk offenders and will include the name of the prisoner, the offence they committed, details of the release date and details of any licence conditions to which the prisoner is to be subject.