Part III General functions of F4F5Minister for the Cabinet Office, Secretary of State and Information Commissioner

Annotations:

I1C147 General functions of Commissioner.

1

It shall be the duty of the Commissioner to promote the following of good practice by public authorities and, in particular, so to perform his functions under this Act as to promote the observance by public authorities of—

a

the requirements of this Act, and

b

the provisions of the codes of practice under sections 45 and 46.

2

The Commissioner shall arrange for the dissemination in such form and manner as he considers appropriate of such information as it may appear to him expedient to give to the public—

a

about the operation of this Act,

b

about good practice, and

c

about other matters within the scope of his functions under this Act,

and may give advice to any person as to any of those matters.

3

The Commissioner may, with the consent of any public authority, assess whether that authority is following good practice.

4

The Commissioner may charge such sums as he may F2... determine for any F3relevant services provided by the Commissioner under this section.

F14A

In subsection (4) “ relevant services ” means—

a

the provision to the same person of more than one copy of any published material where each of the copies of the material is either provided on paper, a portable disk which stores the material electronically or a similar medium,

b

the provision of training, or

c

the provision of conferences.

C24B

The F6Minister for the Cabinet Office may by order amend subsection (4A).

C24C

An order under subsection (4B) may include such transitional or saving provision as the F6Minister for the Cabinet Office considers appropriate.

C24D

The F6Minister for the Cabinet Office must consult the Commissioner before making an order under subsection (4B).

5

The Commissioner shall from time to time as he considers appropriate—

a

consult the Keeper of Public Records about the promotion by the Commissioner of the observance by public authorities of the provisions of the code of practice under section 46 in relation to records which are public records for the purposes of the M1Public Records Act 1958, and

b

consult the Deputy Keeper of the Records of Northern Ireland about the promotion by the Commissioner of the observance by public authorities of those provisions in relation to records which are public records for the purposes of the M2Public Records Act (Northern Ireland) 1923.

6

In this section “good practice”, in relation to a public authority, means such practice in the discharge of its functions under this Act as appears to the Commissioner to be desirable, and includes (but is not limited to) compliance with the requirements of this Act and the provisions of the codes of practice under sections 45 and 46.