At our Parish Council meeting last night (civil parish, not Parochial Church Council) we discussed a letter from CE Electric asking us to give us a list of names and addresses of vulnerable people.
This set a number of alarm bells ringing:
Who is to say who is vulnerable and who is not? Our village boasts a number of very active octogenarians - some still in full time work, and many deeply involved in community roles - and even those septagenarians and octogenarians who are not quite so active might well resent being classified as vulnerable. As regards fuel poverty anyone with a fixed income could be vulnerable.
So, on the basis of good manners we said no.
And who is to have access to this information? Can you imagine the crime that could result from such a list getting into the wrong hands? (And we have all read about lost data discs recently.)
So, on the basis of personal security, we said no.
What right have we to give such information to anyone without the specific permission of those people?
So, on the basis of data protection, we said no.
But what of other councils? Have they happily handed over such information? If I were elderly, disabled or on benefits I would be asking some very serious questions of my local council.
