DSS and pesonal data

If you're having trouble getting the DSS to send you copies of the data they hold on you under the Data Protection Act then read this.
When I appealed against the level of ward I received for DLA I requested copies of all data held on me under the Data Protection Act. I received a phone call from someone in the DSS saying that they no longer had worksheets or any other sort of paper trail that could be copied and sent to me. They went on to say that Decision Makers used a computer programme to record their decisions and that there was nothing that could be copied off and sent to me.
I argued - I think quite reasonably, that I should receive a copy of the information held on the computer.
Here's the interesting thing. I wrote to the DSS 3 times requesting that information. On the first 2 times I was contacted by regular DSS staff. Only after I wrote a 3rd time did I get a letter from their Data Protection Department acknowledging my request and saying I would receive all the info on me within 40 days.
When the 40 days had elapsed and I had not received the data I called them. The person I spoke to said that they had not been able to send me my data because up until that very moment my file had been lost!
I did receive the data a few days later.