​As I said in launching the public consultation on the draft of this code, under the right circumstances and for the right reasons, data sharing across and between organisations can play a crucial role in providing a better, more efficient service to customers in a range of sectors – both public and private. But citizens’ and consumers’ rights under the Data Protection Act must be respected. Organisations that don’t understand what can and cannot be done legally are as likely to disadvantage their clients through excessive caution as they are by carelessness. But when things go wrong this can cause serious harm. We want citizens and consumers to be able to benefit from the responsible sharing of information, confident that their personal data is being handled responsibly and securely. Following the consultation, we’ve been able to take on board many helpful points made by our stakeholders. I am grateful to everyone who has helped to make this code as comprehensive and helpful as possible. The code’s title refers to ‘data sharing’. That is to use the language of the new provisions of the Data Protection Act – and it’s that legislation that requires me to produce this code. But the code isn’t really about ‘sharing’ in the plain English sense. It’s more about different types of disclosure, often involving many organisations and very complex information chains; chains that grow ever longer, crossing organisational and even national boundaries. Information rights are higher than ever on the public agenda. That’s because more and more transactions are done online – by us or about us. Shopping, entertainment, banking, communicating, socialising – but also tax, pensions, benefits, health records, council services and so on. That’s not going to go away – in fact, it’s only going to grow.