Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975

30 Law of defamation and limitation on disclosure of information by Commissioner

(1) For the purposes of the law of defamation, any such publication as is hereinafter mentioned shall be absolutely privileged, that is to say—

(a) the publication of any matter in communications between a member of an authority and the Commissioner, or any of his officers, for the purposes of this Part of this Act;

(b) the publication of any matter by the Commissioner or any of his officers, in communicating with a complainant for the purposes of this Part of this Act;

(c) the publication of any matter in preparing, making and sending a report or statement in accordance with section 28 or 29 of this Act, or, subject to section 28(7) of this Act, in making a report available to the public;

(d) the publication of any matter contained in a report by the Commissioner which has been made available to the public, being publication by inclusion in a report made or published under section 21 of this Act.

(2) Information obtained by the Commissioner, or any of his officers, in the course of or for the purposes of an investigation under this Part of this Act shall not be disclosed except—

(a) for the purposes of the investigation and of any report to be made under section 28 or 29 of this Act; or

(b) for the purposes of any proceedings for an offence under the Official Secrets Acts 1911 to 1939 alleged to have been committed in respect of information obtained, by virtue of this Part of this Act, by the Commissioner or any of his officers or for an offence of perjury alleged to have been committed in the course of an investigation under this Part of this Act or for the purposes of an inquiry with a view to the taking of such proceedings, or

(c) for the purpose of any proceedings under section 27(9) of this Act,

and the Commissioner and his officers shall not be called upon to give evidence in any proceedings (other than proceedings within paragraph (b) or (c) above) of matters coming to his or their knowledge in the course of an investigation under this Part of this Act.

(3) A Minister of the Crown or any of the authorities mentioned in section 23 of this Act may give notice in writing to the Commissioner with respect to any document or information specified in the notice, or any class of documents or information so specified, that in the opinion of the Minister, or as the case may be of the authority, the disclosure of that document or information, or of documents or information of that class, would be contrary to the public interest; and where such a notice is given nothing in this Part of this Act shall be construed as authorising or requiring any person to communicate to any other person, or for any purpose, any document or information specified in the notice, or any document or information of a class so specified:

Provided that a notice given under this subsection by any authority may be discharged by the Secretary of State.

(4) Nothing in subsection (3) above shall affect the obligations imposed by subsections (3) and (4) of section 27 of this Act.

(5) Where information is disclosed in accordance with section 27(3) of this Act, being information which is derived from a communication from a government department, and which has not been made public, the Commissioner shall not without the written consent of an officer of the government department make a report which includes all or any of that information unless he has given the department not less than one month's notice in writing of his intention.

(6) The provisions of this section shall apply to the Commissioners of Customs and Excise and Commissioners of Inland Revenue as they apply to a Minister of the Crown.