The Transitional Payment to Disadvantaged Area Scheme (Northern Ireland) 2015

Powers of authorised officers

10.—(1) An authorised officer may at all reasonable times, after giving the occupier or other person in charge of the premises reasonable notice of his intention and upon production, if so required, of his authority, enter any land or premises, other than a building used solely as a dwelling house, for the purposes of exercising powers specified under this Scheme.

(2) An authorised officer may—

(a) inspect any land specified by the applicant in his application;

(b) require an applicant or any employee, servant or agent of an applicant to provide any relevant record or documentation, or extracts there from, and to supply such additional information as is in that person’s possession or under his control relating to an application under this Scheme;

(c) have access to, and inspect and copy any relevant records or documents (in whatever form they are held) or remove such records or documents to enable them to be copied;

(d) have access to, inspect and check the operation of, any computer and any associated apparatus which is or has been in use in connection with the relevant records or documents; and for this purpose may require any person having charge of, or otherwise concerned with the operation of, the computer, apparatus or material to afford him such assistance as he may reasonably require and, where a record is kept by means of a computer, may require the records to be produced in a form in which they may be taken away;

(e) seize and retain any relevant record or document which he has reason to believe may be required as evidence in proceedings under this Scheme; and

(f) in so far as may be necessary for the purposes of verifying the accuracy of any information provided by an applicant, inspect and count livestock on the land and may, for this purpose, require the applicant, or any employee, servant or agent of such applicant, to arrange for the collection, penning and securing of such livestock.

(3) An authorised person entering on any land under paragraph (1) may be accompanied by such other persons as he considers necessary for any of the purposes mentioned in paragraph (2) and these paragraphs shall apply in relation to any person referred to in sub-paragraph (b), when acting under the instructions of an authorised person, as if he were an authorised person.