29Health and social work
(1)The Secretary of State may by order exempt from the subject access provisions, or modify those provisions in relation to, personal data consisting of information as to the physical or mental health of the data subject.
(2)The Secretary of State may by order exempt from the subject access provisions, or modify those provisions in relation to, personal data of such other descriptions as may be specified in the order, being information—
(a)held by government departments or local authorities or by voluntary organisations or other bodies designated by or under the order ; and
(b)appearing to him to be held for, or acquired in the course of, carrying out social work in relation to the data subject or other individuals ;
but the Secretary of State shall not under this subsection confer any exemption or make any modification except so far as he considers that the application to the data of those provisions (or of those provisions without modification) would be likely to prejudice the carrying out of social work.
(3)An order under this section may make different provision in relation to data consisting of information of different descriptions.