GOC releases further details on data error

More details have been released about an error the General Optical Council made processing registrants’ personal data – with a further apology and vow to review its approach.

The GOC explained it shared data with external organisations because its register is publicly available, meaning there was a legal responsibility to provide it an accessible format on request. The only piece of data that was sent in error was home addresses.

‘We would like to reiterate the apology we made for this error and are now able to provide more information about what happened,’ a GOC statement said this week.

Late last year the regulator reported having incorrectly shared the contact addresses of fully qualified registrants with three organisations. These were Vision Express, the University of Manchester and former Optician owner Reed Business Information.