Consultation outcome

Police requests for third party material

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

Applies to England and Wales

This consultation has concluded

Read the full outcome

Third Party Material Case File Review Report

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email alternativeformats@homeoffice.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Police requests for third party material: consultation response (Welsh)

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email alternativeformats@homeoffice.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Detail of outcome

This consultation response provides a summary of what respondents told us, and the action that the government is committing to take to ensure that victims feel confident that they can pursue and receive justice.

To complement the qualitative evidence gathered in the consultation the Home Office promised to gather further empirical evidence on the issue of necessity, proportionality and timeliness of third party material requests through a review of police case files.


Original consultation

Summary

We are gathering information about police requests for personal data from third parties, such as the NHS or local authorities, when investigating crimes.

This consultation ran from
to

Consultation description

This consultation explores issues around police requests for personal records such as health, education and social service records (known as third party material) during criminal investigations. Whilst requests for information from organisations such as doctors, social workers or support services can be an essential part of an investigation we realise that they can be highly intrusive, disproportionate or even unnecessary. We want to understand more about this as well as to propose solutions for respondents.

We would like to hear from anyone who has experience of requesting or fulfilling requests for this kind of information, or who has had this kind of information requested about them. This includes:

  • those involved in the criminal justice system
  • any organisation that holds personal information that could be requested by the police
  • victim groups
  • victims of crime who have had this kind of material requested about them during an investigation

Documents

Consultation document

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email alternativeformats@homeoffice.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Consultation document (Welsh)

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email alternativeformats@homeoffice.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Updates to this page

Published 16 June 2022
Last updated 15 April 2024 + show all updates
  1. Addition of 'Third party material case file review report' to outcomes area.

  2. Added Welsh translation of the consultation.

  3. Government response published.

  4. Welsh accessible version and privacy notice added.

  5. Updated privacy notice.

  6. First published.

Sign up for emails or print this page