Part III Miscellaneous and General

Miscellaneous

C1C2182 Disclosure of information.

1

A person who discloses any information which he holds or has held in the exercise of tax functionsF17, tax credit functionsF31, child trust fund functionsF1or social security functions is guilty of an offence if it is information about any matter relevant, for the purposes of F2any of those functions—

a

to tax or duty in the case of any identifiable person,

F18aa

to a tax credit in respect of any identifiable person,

F32ab

to a child trust fund of any identifiable person,

b

to contributions payable by or in respect of any identifiable person, or

c

to statutory sick payF3, statutory maternity pay, statutory paternity pay or statutory adoption pay in respect of any identifiable person.

2

In this section “tax functions” means functions relating to tax or duty—

a

of the Commissioners, the Board and their officers,

b

of any person carrying out the administrative work of any tribunal mentioned in subsection (3) below, and

c

of any other person providing, or employed in the provision of, services to any person mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) above.

F192ZA

In this section “tax credit functions” means the functions relating to tax credits—

a

of the Board,

b

of any person carrying out the administrative work of the General Commissioners or the Special Commissioners, and

c

of any other person providing, or employed in the provision of, services to the Board or to any person mentioned in paragraph (b) above.

C3F302ZB

In this section “child trust fund functions” means the functions relating to child trust funds—

a

of the Board and their officers,

b

of any person carrying out the administrative work of the General Commissioners or the Special Commissioners, or

c

of any person providing, or employed in the provision of, services to the Board or any person mentioned in paragraph (b) above.

F42A

In this section “ social security functions ” means—

a

the functions relating to contributions, F20child benefit, guardian’s allowance, statutory sick payF5 , statutory maternity pay, statutory paternity pay or statutory adoption pay—

i

of the Board and their officers,

ii

of any person carrying out the administrative work of the General Commissioners or the Special Commissioners, and

iii

of any other person providing, or employed in the provision of, services to any person mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) or (ii) above, and

b

the functions under Part III of the Pension Schemes Act 1993 or Part III of the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993 of the Board and their officers and any other person providing, or employed in the provision of, services to the Board or their officers.

3

The tribunals referred to in subsection (2)(b) above are—

a

the General Commissioners and the Special Commissioners,

b

any value added tax tribunal,

F29c

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

d

any tribunal established under section 463 of the Taxes Act 1970 or section 706 of the Taxes Act 1988.

4

A person who discloses any information which—

a

he holds or has held in the exercise of functions—

i

of the Comptroller Auditor General and any member of the staff of the National Audit Office, F6. . .

ii

of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and his officers,

F7iii

of the Auditor General for Wales and any member of his staff, F25...

iv

of the Welsh Administration Ombudsman and any member of his staff,F26or

v

of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman and any member of his staff,

b

is, or is derived from, information which was held by any person in the exercise of tax functionsF21, tax credit functionsF33, child trust fund functionsF8or social security functions, and

c

is information about any matter relevant, for the purposes of F9tax functionsF22, tax credit functionsF35, child trust fund functions or social security functions—

i

to tax or duty in the case of any identifiable person,

F23ia

to a tax credit in respect of any identifiable person,

F34ib

to a child trust fund of any identifiable person,

ii

to contributions payable by or in respect of any identifiable person, or

iii

to F24child benefit, guardian’s allowance, statutory sick payF10, statutory maternity pay, statutory paternity pay or statutory adoption pay in respect of any identifiable person

is guilty of an offence.

5

Subsections (1) and (4) above do not apply to any disclosure of information—

a

with lawful authority,

b

with the consent of any person in whose case the information is about a matter relevant to tax or dutyF36, to a tax credit or to a child trust fundF11or to contributions, statutory sick payF12, statutory maternity pay, statutory paternity pay or statutory adoption pay, or

c

which has been lawfully made available to the public before the disclosure is made.

6

For the purposes of this section a disclosure of any information is made with lawful authority if, and only if, it is made—

a

by a Crown servant in accordance with his official duty,

b

by any other person for the purposes of the function in the exercise of which he holds the information and without contravening any restriction duly imposed by the person responsible,

c

to, or in accordance with an authorisation duly given by, the person responsible,

d

in pursuance of any enactment or of any order of a court, or

e

in connection with the institution of or otherwise for the purposes of any proceedings relating to any matter within the general responsibility of the Commissioners or, as the case requires, the Board,

and in this subsection “the person responsible” means the Commissioners, the Board, the ComptrollerF13, the Parliamentary Commissioner, the Auditor General for WalesF27, the Welsh Administration Ombudsman or the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, as the case requires.

7

It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove that at the time of the alleged offence—

a

he believed that he had lawful authority to make the disclosure in question and had no reasonable cause to believe otherwise, or

b

he believed that the information in question had been lawfully made available to the public before the disclosure was made and had no reasonable cause to believe otherwise.

8

A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—

a

on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine or both, and

b

on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both.

9

No prosecution for an offence under this section shall be instituted in England and Wales or in Northern Ireland except—

a

by the Commissioners or the Board, as the case requires, or

b

by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions or, in Northern Ireland, the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland.

10

In this section—

  • “the Board” means the Commissioners of Inland Revenue,

  • F37“child trust fund” has the same meaning as in the Child Trust Funds Act 2004,

  • “the Commissioners” means the Commissioners of Customs and Excise,

  • F14“contributions” means contributions under Part I of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 or Part I of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992;

  • “Crown servant” has the same meaning as in the M1 Official Secrets Act 1989,

  • F38“tax credit” means a tax credit under the Tax Credits Act 2002, and

  • “tax or duty” means any tax or duty within the general responsibility of the Commissioners or the Board.

11

In this section—

a

references to the Comptroller and Auditor General include the Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland,

b

references to the National Audit Office include the Northern Ireland Audit Office, and

c

references to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration include the Health Service Commissioner for England, the Health Service Commissioner for Wales, F28... the F15Assembly Ombudsman for Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Complaints.

F1611A

In this section, references to statutory paternity pay or statutory adoption pay include statutory pay under Northern Ireland legislation corresponding to Part 12ZA or Part 12ZB of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (c. 4).

12

This section shall come into force on the repeal of section 2 of the M2 Official Secrets Act 1911.