Data protection: To share or not to share? That is the question

By Emily Ford, Third Sector, 20 August 2008

Charities help vulnerable people. But how do they decide what information about those people to pass to other agencies without infringing the law? And what happens when other agencies fail to share information about the people they want charities to provide services for? Emily Ford finds out.

One of the less publicised areas of the NSPCC's work is with young sex offenders. When a young person is charged with an offence, the charity is asked to assess that person on behalf of a local authority youth offending team and come to a conclusion about the dangers they...