club admin & data protection act

[chris everitt]

In my relatively new BSAC branch we have a membership database from which a contact list is generated and circulated to members, when members leave we remove them from the database. I expect most clubs do something similar.

Having read up on the data protection act a little recently I'm not sure if ;

a) it applies to BSAC branches
b) if so does BSAC have any guidelines to help clubs adhere to it

Chris.

[Keith Lawrence(BSAC)]

Dear Chris

As an individual club and a small voluntary organisation you do not have to register as a data user under the DPA. You should however be applying the basic priciples of the Act to your club record keeping. This subject (and MANY others) is covered in much more detail in the online Branch Officers Handbook, link to the Data section provided below.

Kind Regards

Keith Lawrence
BSAC Council Member
BSAC IT Team Leader

[chris everitt]

Thanks Keith, I hadn't realised the handbook was online, I'll give a good read this evening.

Cheers,

Chris.

Dear Chris

As an individual club and a small voluntary organisation you do not have to register as a data user under the DPA. You should however be applying the basic priciples of the Act to your club record keeping. This subject (and MANY others) is covered in much more detail in the online Branch Officers Handbook, link to the Data section provided below.

Kind Regards

Keith Lawrence
BSAC Council Member
BSAC IT Team Leader

[David Walker]

Having read up on the data protection act a little recently I'm not sure if ;

a) it applies to BSAC branches
b) if so does BSAC have any guidelines to help clubs adhere to it

Be careful if you are affiliated to another body (eg a University) - I spent ages last year trying to work out what we needed to do because of the dual-affiliation. In the end the Information Commissionner's Office and someone at BSAC HQ managed to get a definitive answer (which was not the same as what the University was trying to make us do). If you are a 'normal', independent BSAC club then you shouldn't have all those problems and go off what is in the BOH (actually this may since have been added to the BOH, not had a look recently).

David

[Keith Lawrence(BSAC)]

Be careful if you are affiliated to another body (eg a University) - I spent ages last year trying to work out what we needed to do because of the dual-affiliation...

Thanks for pointing that out David, a very vaid point! Could you please email the owners of that section of the BOH (it's on the bottom of each page) with some details of your situation and a pointer to who at HQ helped you out. Suggest that they include it in the next version of the BOH.

The BOH is an active document, we rely on the experiences of our members to help it evolve. So if you've found that it doesn't "fit" with your situation we might want to change it so that others have the answer as well.

Cheers Dave

Keith L

[David Walker]

The BOH is an active document, we rely on the experiences of our members to help it evolve. So if you've found that it doesn't "fit" with your situation we might want to change it so that others have the answer as well.

I don't have much free time at the minute to sit and write something legible for them, but the old thread is at <a href="http://www.bsacforum.co.uk/forums/clubforum/posts/1685.html" >http://www.bsacforum.co.uk/forums/clubforum/posts/1685.html</a> which may be useful reference. I'll have to wait until next week to do anything that even vaguely makes sense.

David