Disclosure of information
17.—(1) The Department for Social Development, or a person providing services to that Department, may disclose social security information to a court or a collection officer for the purpose of—
(a)facilitating a decision by the court or officer whether or not to make an application for deduction from benefits, or
(b)facilitating the making of the application by the court or officer.
(2) In subsection (1), “social security information” means—
(a)information which is held by the Department for the purposes of functions relating to social security,
(b)information which is held by a person providing services to the Department in connection with the provision of those services, or
(c)information which is held with information of the description given in paragraph (a) or (b).
(3) A person to whom information is disclosed under this section commits an offence if the person—
(a)discloses the information to another person, or
(b)uses the information for a purpose other than a purpose referred to in subsection (1).
(4) It is not an offence under subsection (3)—
(a)to disclose any information in accordance with a statutory provision or with an order of a court or of a tribunal established by or under a statutory provision or for the purposes of any proceedings before a court,
(b)to disclose or use any information which is in the form of a summary or collection of information so framed as not to enable information relating to any particular person to be ascertained from it, or
(c)to disclose or use any information which has previously been lawfully disclosed to the public.
(5) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (3) to prove that the person reasonably believed that the disclosure or use was lawful.
(6) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (3) is liable—
(a)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum;
(b)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine or both.
(7) Nothing in this section authorises the making of a disclosure which contravenes the Data Protection Act 1998.
(8) In this section, “information” means information held in any form.