No! If you have concerns about a person flying without a licence they should be made to Aviation Regulation Enforcement, part of the CAA not the police as suggested.
You must have forgot to read the rest of post;
Maybe this is moot as I think the CAA would have jurisdiction over such prosecutions?
The police do however have the authority to check the licence status of any pilot but my point is that they too have to satisfy various DPA regulations in that if they want anything beyond verbal confirmation there is paper work to be completed.
Confirming or denying if a licence is held in a specific name is not a breach of data protection according to the CAA.
I disagree
if the confirming or denying done by the CAA is to a person I have not given my express consent for such information to be passed to. I would like to see where this is contained as I have not come across this before.
Why does an instructor sign your log book for a dual training flight? So that an examiner can call the CAA and identify that this person is a bona fide instructor by stating his name number and asking the same question!
If the instructor has signed my log book it is to verify the contents therein. The examiner calling the CAA to confirm the status of the instructor may be a privillege endowed on the examiner and instuctors therefore are likely to be aware that such practice takes place (by signing a log book and ultimately providing his number he is agreeing to, or at least aware, that such checks take place). This however is changing the topic slightly. The question posed is whether or not Joe Bloggs can call the CAA and be told expressly if any person holds a valid licence or not and it is my view that if that were to occur it would be a breach of data protection. I'm not denying if it takes place or not.
I note the forms as contained above require the licence holder to authorise the CAA passing his information to the Company/NAA/Airline concerned.