Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat) Peer. Joan Walmsley is Education Spokesperson in the Lords for the Liberal Democrats. Joan has a degree in Biology from Liverpool University. She has worked in the health service and also as a secondary school teacher. Since 1987 she has worked as a PR consultant and now runs her own business. She is married Lord Thomas of Gresford.

Issues

Children's Digital Rights

Baroness Walmsley takes a particular interest in issues related to children and their education.

She is aware and concerned about the fingerprinting of kids in schools and has asked questions about eCAF.

House of Lords debate Data Protection 12 June 2008

...This brings me to my next point: people who should never be on these databases. The number of children on the DNA database has risen from 8,484 in 1995-96 to 179,441 in 2006-07—a 21-times increase. About 160,000 young people aged between 10 and 17 were added to the National DNA Database last year after being arrested for the first time, of whom at least 81,000 were innocent. There are at least 105,000 innocent 10 to 17 year-olds on the database in total. All these young people will have their DNA profiles kept permanently on the computer. Many adults who have been arrested on suspicion of sometimes very minor offences, but never charged, are on the database, and some do not even realise it. The children's database ContactPoint is a matter of concern not because it is inappropriate for professionals to share information about children who need services but because of its size, universality and questions about the lack of security. It should never replace meaningful discussions between professionals and lead to complacency that the job has been done.

...It was revealed in December that sensitive details about adults and children were lost in 10 incidents at nine separate NHS trusts; this is particularly sensitive information. There was the loss of a CD with 160,000 children's names and addresses by a trust in east London. In Norfolk, medical papers on patients with lung, breast and colon cancer were dumped in a wheelie bin. Only last month, a laptop computer holding personal and financial information on 10,000 NHS staff was stolen from a hospital in Cornwall. Some of these organisations cannot protect their own staff, let alone their own patients.

House of Lords debate Child Protection 24 October 2007

It is extraordinary that throughout the whole debate on the regulations for ContactPoint, the Government did not once mention their intention to create a second, parallel, national electronic database containing sensitive assessments of children seeking services. All our concerns about the security of ContactPoint are amplified in relation to eCAF. It is simply not possible to keep such a large database secure. It will have thousands of users, quite conceivably as many as ContactPoint. While arguments about the potential insecurity of ContactPoint have been countered with assertions from the Government that it will contain only minimal information, the same cannot be said about eCAF. It will contain detailed personal information about children seeking services and clear indications of their vulnerability.

Tabled an amendment to ContactPoint that said

at end to insert "but this House regrets that the cost is likely to be disproportionate to the benefit and could have been more effectively and safely spent on professional staff".

House of Lords debate Schools: Biometric Data 19 March 2007

What regulations they propose to make regarding the collection and storage of the biometric data of children in schools.

..

My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply, but is he aware that the practice of fingerprinting in schools has been banned in China as being too intrusive and an infringement of children's rights? Here, it is widespread. We have even had a head teacher tricking three year-olds into giving their fingerprints by playing a spy game. Will the Government ban schools from carrying out this practice, unless parents specifically opt into the system following full and independent information about the so-called benefits of the system and the dangers of identity fraud?

..

My Lords, while I have enormous respect for the Minister, his answer smacks of considerable complacency. This is widespread across the country. Children are being fingerprinted without their consent or their parents' consent. They are being victimised if they do not comply by not being allowed to use the library, by being threatened with exclusion and by being made to go to the back of the dinner queue if they do not have one of these cards. Will he look into this and find out what the real situation is rather than the theoretical one that he has so reasonably outlined?

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson, Baroness (Joan) Walmsley said in a press release 19 March 2007

"The Government is walking blindfolded into a perilous situation."

"Insecure school computers holding precious unique personal information are a gift to potential identity thieves."

"I only hope it’s not too late to reign in these dangerous practices before children’s identities are compromised for life."

"The fact that the Chinese Government is more concerned with children’s privacy rights than our Government is appalling."

"The Government needs to wake up and listen to the very real concerns of parents and produce strict regulations for schools using these technologies."

House of Lords debate Public Services 22 March 2007

...Suffice it to say that the DfES has really no idea what is going on out there. It does not know how many schools are doing this or how many children are affected. The noble Lord, Lord Adonis, in answer to a question from me earlier this week, revealed that his department is unaware that most of those schools are flouting good practice by not getting the parents' permission for this infringement of their children's rights. That is the sort of thing that can happen when services to the public sector are not properly monitored. The Government are walking blindfolded into a future identity fraud crisis, and the parents and children do not even know about it or realise the implications of the practice. ...

Identity cards

House of Lords debate Data Protection 12 June 2008

The database to beat all databases is the one behind the planned compulsory identity cards. The ID cards project is one of the biggest computer systems yet envisaged, far more complex than the NHS system. Apparently, iris scans, fingerprints and face-recognition software will all work perfectly and be amazingly cheap to implement, although, apparently, the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, did not think so when she recently tested out the system in this building. I am not sure what it would make of my husband's false eye and the rather startling coloured contact lenses that some young people wear these days.

The bigger the system, the greater the opportunity of failure. There is also the fact that databases pick up errors and then build data error upon error. Have noble Lords ever tried to get the spelling of their name corrected on a company's database when some illiterate has got it wrong the first time that it was input? I am sure that your Lordships will understand that it has often happened to me, with a name like Walmsley. It is very frustrating.

It is not the ID card itself but the ID register that is the problem. What I am most frightened about is that each entry will eventually take on a legal status, even if it is wrong. I know somebody who flies around the world with a passport with his incorrect name on it. He has tried to get it corrected but the agency will not do it. Once it is fixed, it is fixed. Have noble Lords ever stood in front of anyone and told them their facts and had them say that the computer says something else? Why do they always believe the computer instead of a perfectly honest and trustworthy person who could have no possible reason to lie?

The really worrying thing is that the perpetrators of 80 per cent of all computer security lapses are not hackers but employees. This multiplies the dangers. People working on the ID database might be corrupted, threatened or blackmailed into creating perfectly legal ID cards for international terrorists and criminals. Then the ID card, far from eliminating problems, will be a one-stop shop for identity fraud and possible terrorist crime. Is it any wonder that we have no confidence in these databases? Even nine out of 10 doctors do not have confidence in the NHS system.

House of Lords debate Identity Cards Bill 31 October 2005

My Lords, as the spokesman on children's issues on these Benches, I shall address some of the issues relating to children....

What is the Government's purpose for this legislation in relation to children? I am not aware that we have had a rash of child terrorists, or a lot of people stealing the identity of children, or that many children have applied for benefits to which they are not entitled. I think that this is yet another symptom of a nosy and controlling state. The noble Baroness, Lady Ramsay of Cartvale, said that if you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to fear from ID cards. I have always said about the Bill that the more innocent you are, the less right the state has to know, even less to control, what you do. That relates in particular to children.

First, why should children be forced to have ID cards? What advantage can be gained? The accepted definition of a child in this country is someone under 18, except for some vulnerable groups where the age is higher. Yet we find that 16 and 17 year-olds will have to have an ID card. The Bill also contains the power in Clause 2(6) for the Secretary of State to lower the current age of registration to any age. So that could include all children in future. Why does he need that power? How and why does he anticipate using it? We have as yet heard no rationale for that.

...

YouTube

House of Lords debate Education and Inspections Bill 30 October 2006

There is an issue that I should like to bring to the Minister's attention concerning the modern technology that allows short video clips to be posted on the internet, particularly on a website called YouTube. I understand that it is being used to bully teachers. Children are bullying teachers by taking pictures of them without their permission, sometimes in not very flattering situations or when they are actually being abused by the children, and putting them up on the internet along with some very derogatory personal comments. This includes the homophobic bullying of teachers by children.

Although I warmly welcome this group of amendments and what they do in relation to children, they do not cover some of my concerns about adults who work in a school. If one adult bullies another adult, disciplinary measures may be taken concerning the standards of the adult's behaviour. However, those professional disciplinary measures do not apply to a child. I hope that the Minister will be able to tell us in responding to these concerns what might be done to encourage schools to generate a climate of mutual respect so that this sort of thing does not happen again. I am not asking the Minister to ban it. We can ban far too many things, and a ban on something to do with the internet is completely unworkable. But I would like to hear the Minister's thoughts on what can be done about this serious and important issue.

Data Protection

House of Lords debate Data Protection 12 June 2008

...There are five main issues about which we should have concern. We have heard about them all during this debate. They are: first, the sheer magnitude of the information held about us; secondly, the fact that there are some people, such as children, whose information is held on databases with no justification at all, not even a proportionate response to need or threat; thirdly, the demonstrably poor security of the information—as we have just heard in the Statement, the Government cannot even trust the competence of senior officers in the Cabinet Office to protect sensitive information; fourthly, the question of knowledge, consent and ability to opt out; and, fifthly, the lack of adequate powers and funding of the Information Commissioner to protect the individual from this intrusion by the state and commerce. I shall take those one by one.

DNA database

House of Lords debate Data Protection 12 June 2008

...Then there is the DNA database. Britain's is purported to be the largest in the world. Approximately 2.4 million people have their DNA permanently retained on the NDNAD, which is alleged to contain more than 100,000 DNA samples taken from children who have never been charged or convicted with any crime. Black and ethnic minority males are overrepresented on it.

This brings me to my next point: people who should never be on these databases. The number of children on the DNA database has risen from 8,484 in 1995-96 to 179,441 in 2006-07—a 21-times increase. About 160,000 young people aged between 10 and 17 were added to the National DNA Database last year after being arrested for the first time, of whom at least 81,000 were innocent. There are at least 105,000 innocent 10 to 17 year-olds on the database in total. All these young people will have their DNA profiles kept permanently on the computer. Many adults who have been arrested on suspicion of sometimes very minor offences, but never charged, are on the database, and some do not even realise it. The children's database ContactPoint is a matter of concern not because it is inappropriate for professionals to share information about children who need services but because of its size, universality and questions about the lack of security. It should never replace meaningful discussions between professionals and lead to complacency that the job has been done.

Links

Baroness Walmsley Website
Baroness Walmsley TheyWorkForYou.com
Baroness Walmsley Wikipedia
Baroness Walmsley Liberal Democrats Profile

News

2008-09-16 - Liberal Democrats - Respect, Consent and Personal Data: Author: Baroness Walmsley; Summary: The Liberal Democrats Autumn Conference will today debate bold proposals to remove children from the DNA database and to reduce the amount of personal data kept by the Government. The key plans include: * Removing the DNA profiles of children under 16 from the DNA database, except those convicted of a violent or sexual offence. * Ensuring all people who are arrested or charged but not convicted, except in the case of violent or sexual offences, have the right to remove their profile from the DNA database. * Properly informing citizens of opt-outs from government databases. * Introducing extensive civil penalties for serious breaches of data security. * Strengthening the role and funding arrangements of the Information Commissioner. Mover: Baroness Walmsley

2007-03-19 - Liberal Democrats - Fingerprinting in UK schools more authoritarian than in China: Author: Baroness Walmsley; Summary: Government ministers will today [Monday] be forced to confront criticism about the practice of fingerprinting of children in school, following questions by the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. There is currently no government guidance for schools about the controversial practice, which is even being banned in schools in China on privacy grounds. Commenting, Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson, Baroness (Joan) Walmsley said: "The Government is walking blindfolded into a perilous situation." "Insecure school computers holding precious unique personal information are a gift to potential identity thieves. "I only hope it’s not too late to reign in these dangerous practices before children’s identities are compromised for life." "The fact that the Chinese Government is more concerned with children’s privacy rights than our Government is appalling." "The Government needs to wake up and listen to the very real concerns of parents and produce strict regulations for schools using these technologies."