The Water and Sewerage Services (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 2006

Information sharing

3.—(1) This Article applies to any information which is held—

(a)by the Department of Finance and Personnel for the purposes of—

(i)its functions under the Rates (Northern Ireland) Order 1977 (NI 28) or the Rates (Capital Values, etc.) (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 (NI 4); or

(ii)the administration of housing benefit;

(b)by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive for the purposes of—

(i)its functions under the Housing (Northern Ireland) Orders 1981 to 2003; or

(ii)the administration of housing benefit.

(2) Information to which this Article applies must, if an authorised officer so requires, be supplied to—

(a)the Department; or

(b)any person or body providing services to the Department,

for the purpose of enabling or assisting the recipient to make arrangements in connection with the development, introduction and implementation of a charges scheme.

(3) Any requirement under paragraph (2) must specify—

(a)the description of information which is to be supplied;

(b)in the case of information to be supplied to a person other than the authorised officer, the name and address of that person;

(c)the form in which the information is to be supplied; and

(d)the date by which the information is to be supplied.

(4) Such a requirement must not specify under paragraph (3)(d) a date later than 31st March 2007.

(5) This Article—

(a)does not limit the circumstances in which information may be supplied apart from this Article; but

(b)has effect despite any restriction on the purposes for which information may be disclosed or used.

(6) In paragraph (2) “a charges scheme” means a scheme for charging for services provided by a person who supplies water through pipes to, or provides sewerage services in respect of, any premises; and the arrangements referred to in that paragraph include in particular—

(a)arrangements for identifying those owning or occupying premises;

(b)arrangements for identifying those who may be eligible for any special assistance under the scheme and for providing that assistance; and

(c)arrangements for billing and recovery of the charges which may be imposed in accordance with the scheme.

(7) In this Article—

“authorised officer” means an officer of the Department authorised for the purposes of this Order by the Department;

“housing benefit” means housing benefit provided by virtue of a scheme under section 122 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (c. 7).