Health Service Commissioners Act 1993

Information and consultation

15 Confidentiality of information

(1) Information obtained by a Commissioner or his officers in the course of or for the purposes of an investigation shall not be disclosed except—

(a) for the purposes of the investigation and any report to be made in respect of it,

(b) for the purposes of any proceedings for—

(i) an offence under the Official Secrets Acts 1911 to 1989 alleged to have been committed in respect of information obtained by virtue of this Act by a Commissioner or any of his officers, or

(ii) an offence of perjury alleged to have been committed in the course of the investigation,

(c) for the purposes of an inquiry with a view to the taking of such proceedings as are mentioned in paragraph (b), or

(d) for the purposes of any proceedings under section 13 (offences of obstruction and contempt).

(2) Neither a Commissioner nor his officers shall be called on to give evidence in any proceedings, other than proceedings mentioned in subsection (1), of matters coming to his or their knowledge in the course of an investigation under this Act.

16 Information prejudicial to the safety of the State

(1) A Minister of the Crown may give notice in writing to a Commissioner with respect to any document or information specified in the notice that in the Minister’s opinion the disclosure of the document or information would be prejudicial to the safety of the State or otherwise contrary to the public interest.

(2) Where such a notice is given to a Commissioner, nothing in this Act shall be construed as authorising or requiring him or any of his officers to communicate to any person or for any purpose any document or information specified in the notice.

(3) References above to a document or information include references to a class of document or a class of information.

17 Use of information by Commissioner in other capacity

(1) This section applies where a Commissioner also holds either of the other offices of Health Service Commissioner or the office of Parliamentary Commissioner (an “additional office”).

(2) Where—

(a) a person initiates a complaint to the Commissioner as the holder of the additional office, and

(b) the complaint relates partly to a matter with respect to which that person has previously initiated, or subsequently initiates, a complaint to the Commissioner in his capacity as such,

information obtained by the Commissioner or his officers in the course of or for the purposes of the investigation of that other complaint may be disclosed for the purposes of carrying out his functions in relation to the complaint initiated to him as the holder of the additional office.

18 Consultation during investigations

(1) Where a Commissioner, at any stage in the course of conducting an investigation, forms the opinion that the complaint relates partly to a matter which could be the subject of an investigation—

(a) by either of the other Health Service Commissioners under this Act,

(b) by the Parliamentary Commissioner under the [1967 c. 13.] Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967,

(c) by a Local Commissioner under Part III of the [1974 c. 7.] Local Government Act 1974, or

(d) by the Commissioner for Local Administration in Scotland under Part II of the [1975 c. 30.] Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975,

he shall consult about the complaint with the appropriate Commissioner and, if he considers it necessary, he shall inform the person initiating the complaint of the steps necessary to initiate a complaint to that Commissioner.

(2) Where a Commissioner consults with another Commissioner in accordance with this section, the consultations may extend to any matter relating to the complaint, including—

(a) the conduct of any investigation into the complaint, and

(b) the form, content and publication of any report of the results of such an investigation.

(3) Nothing in section 15 (confidentiality of information) applies in relation to the disclosure of information by a Commissioner or his officers in the course of consultations held in accordance with this section.