PART IXINFORMATION

Powers to acquire and duties to provide information

Information sharing for purposes of special provision in charges scheme264

1

This Article applies to any information relating to a consumer which is held by the Department of Finance and Personnel or the Northern Ireland Housing Executive for the purposes of the administration of—

a

a scheme under Article 30A of the Rates (Northern Ireland) Order 1977; or

b

housing benefit.

2

Information to which this Article applies must, if an authorised officer of a relevant undertaker so requires, be supplied to—

a

the undertaker; or

b

any person or body providing services to the undertaker,

for the purpose of enabling or assisting the undertaker to give effect to any special provision included in a charges scheme of the undertaker in compliance with regulations under Article 202(2)(d)(i).

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

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.

5

The Department may by order amend paragraph (1) by adding any description of information to, or removing any description of information from, the list in that paragraph; but no description of information may be added to that list unless it is information of a description held by a Northern Ireland department or the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.

6

In this Article—

  • “authorised officer”, in relation to a relevant undertaker, means an officer of the undertaker authorised for the purposes of this Article by the undertaker;

  • “consumer” has the same meaning as in Chapter I of Part VII;

  • “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).