Domestic Abuse Act 2021

82 Code of practice

(1) The Secretary of State may issue a code of practice relating to the processing of domestic abuse data for immigration purposes.

(2) A code of practice issued under this section—

(a) must be kept under review;

(b) may be revised or replaced.

(3) A person to whom a code of practice issued under this section applies must have regard to it in processing domestic abuse data for immigration purposes.

(4) In preparing, revising or replacing a code, the Secretary of State must consult—

(a) the Domestic Abuse Commissioner,

(b) the Information Commissioner, and

(c) such other persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.

(5) Before issuing a code (or a revised code) under this section, the Secretary of State must lay the code before Parliament.

(6) If, within the 40-day period, either House of Parliament resolves not to approve the code—

(a) the code is not to be issued, and

(b) the Secretary of State may prepare another code.

(7) If no such resolution is passed within the 40-day period, the Secretary of State may issue the code.

(8) In this section, the “40-day period” is the period of 40 days beginning with the day on which the code is laid before Parliament (or, if it is not laid before each House of Parliament on the same day, the later of the 2 days on which it is laid).

(9) In calculating the 40-day period, no account is to be taken of any period during which Parliament is dissolved or prorogued or during which both Houses are adjourned for more than 4 days.

(10) In this section—

• “domestic abuse data” has the same meaning as in section 81;

• “immigration purposes” has the same meaning as in section 81;

• “personal data” has the meaning given by section 3(2) of the Data Protection Act 2018;

• “processing” has the meaning given by section 3(4) of that Act.