Legal Services Act 2007 (c. 29)

Part 6 E+W Legal Complaints

Information E+W

151 Restricted information E+W

(1) Except as provided by section 152, restricted information must not be disclosed—

(a) by a restricted person, or

(b) by any person who receives the information directly or indirectly from a restricted person.

(2) In this section and section 152—

• “restricted information” means information (other than excluded information) which is obtained by a restricted person in the course of, or for the purposes of, an investigation into a complaint made under the ombudsman scheme (including information obtained for the purposes of deciding whether to begin such an investigation or in connection with the settlement of a complaint);

• “restricted person” means—

  (a)

  the OLC,

  (b)

  an ombudsman, or

  (c)

  a person who exercises functions delegated under paragraph 22 of Schedule 15.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2) “excluded information” means—

(a) 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;

(b) information which at the time of the disclosure is or has already been made available to the public from other sources;

(c) information which was obtained more than 70 years before the date of the disclosure.

Commencement Information

I1 S. 151 partly in force: s. 151 not in force at Royal Assent see s. 211; s. 151 in force for certain purposes at 1.1.2010 by S.I. 2009/3250, art. 2(d) (with art. 9)

I2 S. 151 in force at 6.10.2010 in so far as not already in force by S.I. 2010/2089, art. 2(a)