2. In section 87 of the 1989 Act(1) (determinations and directions) after subsection (3), the following subsections are inserted —
“(4) References in this section to sending to a local housing authority a copy of a determination under this Part include references to using electronic communications for sending a copy of a determination to such address as may for the time being be notified to the Secretary of State by that authority for that purpose.
(5) For the purposes of this section a copy of a determination under this Part is also to be treated as sent to a local housing authority where —
(a)the Secretary of State and that authority have agreed to the authority instead having access to determinations on a web site;
(b)the determination is a determination to which that agreement applies;
(c)he Secretary of State has published the determination on a web site;
(d)that authority is notified, in a manner for the time being agreed for the purpose between that authority and the Secretary of State, of —
(i)the publication of the determination on a web site;
(ii)the address of that web site; and
(iii)the place on that web site where then determination may be accessed, and how it may be accessed.
(6) A local housing authority which is no longer willing to accept electronic communications for the notification of decisions under this section, may withdraw a notification of an address given to the Secretary of State for the purposes of subsection (4) above, and such a withdrawal shall take effect on a date specified by the authority being a date no less than one month after the date on which the authority informs the Secretary of State that it wants to withdraw the notification of the address given.
(7) A local housing authority which has entered into an agreement with the Secretary of State under paragraph (a) of subsection (5) above may revoke the agreement, and such revocation shall take effect on a date specified by the authority being a date no less than one month after the date on which the authority informs the Secretary of State that it wants to revoke the agreement.”.
The Secretary of State’s functions under section 87 are exercisable in relation to Wales by the Assembly by virtue of The National Assembly for Wales (Transfer of Functions) Order 1999.