(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations provide that the Secretary of State may disclose to the Statistics Board information in respect of individuals in connection with certain benefit payments received on or after 1st January 2001. The Secretary of State may also disclose information received on or after 1st January 2001 in respect of individuals who have received assistance to gain employment.
The Regulations also provide that the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (“the Commissioners”) may disclose to the Statistics Board information in respect of individuals in connection with certain revenue payments on or after 1st January 2001.
Regulation 6 provides that the Statistics Board may only use the information that is disclosed in order to enable it to produce population statistics and for the assessment of census returns.
Regulations 7 and 8 authorise further disclosure by the Statistics Board of personal information which is disclosed under regulations 3 to 5 in certain circumstances which would otherwise be prohibited by section 47(4) of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (“the 2007 Act”). Regulations 7 and 8 only permit the Statistics Board to disclose such information to the National Records of Scotland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency and only for the purpose of assisting the Statistics Board to produce population statistics under section 20 (production of statistics) of the 2007 Act.
An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.