PART 4Financial redress: redress payments
CHAPTER 6Provision of information and evidence
I179Power of the Scottish Ministers to require the provision of evidence
1
The Scottish Ministers may, for a purpose mentioned in subsection (2), by notice in writing require a person, other than an applicant, to provide the Scottish Ministers on or before a specified date with—
a
specified information, documents, objects, or other items of evidence,
b
evidence in the form of a written statement.
2
The purposes referred to in subsection (1) are the determination of any matter by—
a
a panel appointed under section 35 to determine an application,
b
a review panel appointed under section 55 to conduct a review,
c
a reconsideration panel appointed under section 75 to reconsider a determination.
3
A person to whom a notice under subsection (1) is given may, before the end of the period of 4 weeks beginning with the date on which the notice was received by the person, make a claim to the Scottish Ministers that—
a
the person is unable to comply with the notice, or
b
it is not reasonable in all the circumstances to require the person to comply with the notice.
4
The Scottish Ministers must, as soon as reasonably practicable after receiving a claim made under subsection (3), provide the claim, and any information accompanying it, to Redress Scotland.
5
Where a claim is made under subsection (3), Redress Scotland may confirm, revoke or vary the notice to which the claim relates.
6
A person who is required by a notice to provide documents must do so in a redacted form if—
a
the documents contain information about another person which is irrelevant to the determination of the application to which the notice relates, and
b
the disclosure of that information would breach an obligation of confidence.
7
A notice does not have effect to the extent that—
a
complying with the notice would involve the disclosure of information which would contravene the data protection legislation, or
b
the person to whom the notice applies would be entitled to refuse to comply with the notice in or for the purposes of proceedings in a court in Scotland.
8
In this section, “the data protection legislation” has the meaning given by section 3(9) of the Data Protection Act 2018.