As Joshua Rosenburg ( a big hitter in the U.K legal world) pointed out, these guys have not even studied the Data Protection Act that they are trying to hide behind, and seem not to be aware of a later Act that trumps the DPA and makes it a Criminal Offence if Elders have destroyed evidence.
Rosenburg misunderstood the intent. It's the right of the individual to obtain information under the Data Protection Act which is the reason behind the destruction of files/notes etc, not a misguided belief they are obligated to destroy data.