Sexual Offences Act 2003

Sexual Offences Act 2003

2003 CHAPTER 42

Commentary on Sections

Part 2: Notification and Orders

Section 94: Part 2: supply of information to Secretary of State etc. for verification

185. Sections 94 and 95 provide the power to enable the police to verify that an offender has notified the correct details in compliance with sections 83, 84 and 85 of this Act or with the relevant sections of the Sex Offenders Act 1997, and that he is not omitting any details (such as another name or address he uses). This will be done by comparing the details provided at notification against information the offenders will have provided to certain bodies performing Government functions.

186. Subsection (3) describes the police, and policing organisations having the power to supply this information. Subsections (2) and (8) describe the bodies to whom the information may be supplied. These are those bodies which perform social security, child support, employment and training functions on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and the equivalent Northern Ireland Department, those who perform functions in relation to passports on behalf of the Home Secretary, and those who perform functions under Part 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Department of Transport (i.e. the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) or Part 2 of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981. By virtue of subsection (2)(c), section 94 also allows for the supply of information to persons providing services to the Secretary of State in connection with these functions i.e. an executive agency or private company.

187. By virtue of subsection (1), the details the police may provide to these bodies are an offender’s date of birth, national insurance number, any names he has notified, and his home address and any other addresses notified. This information may have been supplied by an offender at his initial notification, when notifying a change, or at his periodic notification.

188. Subsection (4) provides that this information may only be shared for the purpose of verifying that the information supplied to the police etc. by the offender is accurate and for the purpose of compiling a report of the comparison. It could not, for example, be used by DWP to pursue someone for a child support payment.

189. This section applies to Northern Ireland, the only difference being that the police may supply information to the Department for Social Development, the Department of the Environment or the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland or to a person providing services to these Departments in connection with a “relevant function”.

190. Subsection (6) provides that any transfer of data must comply with the Data Protection Act 1998.