The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 (Housing Support Services Information) Order 2002

Unauthorised disclosure of information

5.—(1) This article applies to–

(a) any person (“the recipient”) to whom information is supplied by virtue of article 3 or 4;

(b) any person who is or has been a director, member of the committee of management manager, secretary or other similar officer of the recipient; and

(c) any person who is or has been employed by the recipient.

(2) A person to whom this article applies is guilty of an offence if that person discloses without lawful authority any information which is supplied by virtue of article 3 or 4 and which relates to a particular person.

(3) It is not an offence under this article–

(a) to disclose information in the form of a summary or collection of information which is framed so as not to enable information relating to any particular person to be ascertained from it; or

(b) to disclose information which has previously been disclosed to the public with lawful authority.

(4) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under this article to prove that at the time of the alleged offence–

(a) the person believed that the disclosure in question was made with lawful authority and had no reasonable cause to believe otherwise; or

(b) the person believed that the information in question had previously been disclosed to the public with lawful authority and had no reasonable cause to believe otherwise.

(5) A person guilty of an offence under this article is to be liable–

(a) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine or both; or

(b) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

(6) For the purposes of this article a disclosure is to be regarded as made with lawful authority if, and only if, it is made–

(a) in accordance with article 3(4) or 4(4) above or any other enactment;

(b) in accordance with an order of a court;

(c) for the purpose of instituting, or otherwise for the purposes of, any proceedings before a court or tribunal; or

(d) with the consent of the appropriate person (as defined in section 123(10) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992(1)).

(1)

1992 c. 5; section 123(10) was amended by the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2001 (asp 4), Schedule 5, paragraph 23.