2(1)This paragraph applies where—
(a)the Secretary of State requires relevant information in connection with the discharge by him, or by any child support officer, of functions under this Act; or
(b)the Department of Health and Social Services for Northern Ireland requires relevant information in connection with the discharge of any functions under any corresponding Northern Ireland legislation.
(2)The Secretary of State may give a direction to the appropriate authority requiring them to give him such relevant information in connection with any housing benefit or community charge benefit to which an absent parent or person with care is entitled as the Secretary of State considers necessary in connection with his determination of—
(a)that person’s income of any kind;
(b)the amount of housing costs to be taken into account in determining that person’s income of any kind; or
(c)the amount of that person’s protected income.
(3)The Secretary of State may give a similar direction for the purposes of enabling the Department of Health and Social Services for Northern Ireland to obtain such information for the purposes of any corresponding Northern Ireland legislation.
(4)In this paragraph—
“appropriate authority” means—
in relation to housing benefit, the housing or local authority concerned; and
in relation to community charge benefit, the charging authority or, in Scotland, the levying authority; and
“relevant information” means information of such a description as may be prescribed.