Section 171: Supplementary provisions with respect to agreements under section 167
469.Section 171 requires agreements, and approvals for them, to be in writing and provides for agreements to be published in such a way as to bring them to the attention of persons likely to be affected. It also provides that no power of a Minister of the Crown (under the Act or any other legislation) to give directions to a statutory body may be used to require that body to enter into an agreement or to prohibit it from doing so.
470.In addition, this section provides that Schedule 15 to the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 (relating to the disclosure of information) applies where bodies are exercising functions by virtue of an agreement. This is to make clear to each contracting body how to handle confidential information and the situations where sharing of information between the contracting bodies is permitted.