Birmingham Law Centre Blog

Birmingham Law Centre seeks Judicial Review on behalf of Birmingham Man Nigel Simons over the compatibility of the UK Census with Human Rights and European Union law

On 21-22 June 2012 Mr Justice Beatson (sitting in the Birmingham Administrative Court) will hear a Judicial Review which concerns the security and confidentiality of personal and private data contained within the 2011 census.

The case is a test case and one of fundamental importance nationally. If successful, it means that the confidentiality assurances given by the Government and the Statistics Board in the lead up to the 2011 census were materially flawed.  It will also mean that until the UK Government provides cast iron legislative guarantees on data confidentiality, the US intelligence agencies can continue to access, retain and analyse personal data of each completing householder in the UK.

It further means that those prosecuted for not having completed the 2011 census on grounds of privacy concerns may well be entitled to have their convictions quashed.

The case also confronts the real concern that US companies present in the UK and operating in the public and private sectors may be compelled under US law to provide information under their control or to which they have access to the US intelligence agencies and further be bound by gagging order never to tell.

Nigel Simons, a Birmingham man and longstanding privacy campaigner, refused to take part in the 2011 Census. He has completed the census in the past but believes that the 2011 census was different because the multi billion US defence contractor which specialises in surveillance, intelligence and data gathering for the US government, FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, NSA etc Lockheed Martin, was awarded the contact to collect and process the census data. Mr Simons believes that as a result there is a serious risk of personal information contained in the census being disclosed to the US intelligence agencies.  This is because Lockheed Martin has statutory obligations under the USA Patriot Act 2001 which permits the US government to force US companies to hand over data in their control or to which they have access on the very low threshold that there is a potential risk to US national security.  This is a very intrusive and far reaching power.

On 21-22 June 2012 Mr Simons’ evidence and concerns will be referred to at length during the hearing. The Claimants seek a declaration from the court that section 39 (4)(f) of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRSA 2007) is incompatible with the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) which provides as a fundamental right the right to privacy of data collected by a census. It is argued that this subsection permits lawful disclosure of census material to the US if a request is made in connection with criminal investigation or proceedings.

It is a test case which raises important points of law of significant wider public interest concerning the protection of fundamental rights.

Michael Bates from Birmingham Law Centre says:

‘This case has the potential to significantly impact on the future of public contracts between the UK government and US companies.’

Lockheed Martin is heavily involved in surveillance and ‘cyber security’. It provides surveillance/data processing for the CIA and FBI. A new ‘Security Intelligence Centre’ at Farnborough was opened at the beginning of December 2011. Lockheed Martin Corporation is the lead company behind the current US government Next Generation Identification (NGI) initiative in which $1.6 billion is being spent on biometric developments that will allow many aspects of an individual’s private characteristics to be gathered and stored.

The vice-president Lockheed Martin is quoted as having said, “We want to know what’s going on any time, any place on the planet.”

Mr Simons is concerned that there is no statutory safeguard in place to prevent his information being disclosed.  By refusing to complete and return his census form he faces the real possibility of being prosecuted under section 8 of the Census Act 1920 (CA 1920).

Mr Simons says:

‘Section 8 of the CA 1920 does not allow me to defend myself.  I think that the census breaches my right to a private life under the Human Rights Act and any prosecution for not completing it would be an abuse of process.’

Tony Muman, the barrister who is representing Mr Simons says:

‘The legal case is of fundamental importance. The question of the security of the data of UK citizens is of the utmost importance.’

Because of the unique way Law Centres are funded, this case was initially brought on a pro bono basis and is now funded by the Legal Services Commission.  This important issue may never have been able to get to court without the free work of the Law Centre and the work of Mr Tony Muman.  Counsel has also worked for much of the case on a pro bono basis.

There is a risk that cases like this will not be supported by the Law Centre in future as changes to the Legal Aid scheme will make it harder to fund this kind of work.  Changes to the scheme will come into force in April 2013.

Ends

Notes for Editors:

Law Centres are not-for-profit legal practices providing free legal advice and representation to vulnerable and disadvantaged people.  They are solicitor-led organisations that have rights of hearing and litigation in the highest courts and are members of the Law Centres Federation.

Birmingham Law Centre (BLC) is one of 55 Law Centres in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, staffed by solicitors, caseworkers and in some cases barristers who specialise in areas of civil law including debt, employment, housing, discrimination, welfare benefits, education and immigration.

BLC provides in-depth legal advice and representation, including judicial review, on social welfare areas of law such as: welfare benefits, debt, community care, housing and employment discrimination. Last year, around 2,000 clients were helped and more than 3,500 hours of casework were undertaken.

For further information please call Michael Bates at Birmingham Law Centre on or email: or mobile: .

Nigel Simons and Michael Bates will be in court from 9:30am on 21 June 2012 to take questions.