After section 46 of the 2006 Act, insert—
(1)For the purposes of the law of defamation—
(a)any statement made by the Commissioner or any of the Commissioner’s staff—
(i)in carrying out a complaint handling review or in carrying out an investigation in pursuance of paragraph (b), (c) or (d) of section 33A;
(ii)in communicating with any person for the purposes of such a review or investigation;
(iii)in a report on such a review or investigation; or
(iv)in a report made under section 43,
has absolute privilege;
(b)any statement made to the Commissioner or any of the Commissioner’s staff in relation to an investigation carried out in pursuance of paragraph (b), (c) or (d) of section 33A has absolute privilege; and
(c)any statement made to the Commissioner or any of the Commissioner’s staff in relation to a relevant complaint or a complaint handling review is privileged unless the statement is shown to have been made with malice.
(2)In subsection (1), “statement” has the same meaning as in the Defamation Act 1996 (c.31).”.