National Security Act 2023

90 Legal aid for individuals convicted of terrorism offences: data sharing

In the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, after section 9A (as inserted by section 89) insert—

“9B Information relating to convictions for terrorism offences

(1) The Director may make an information request to a competent authority.

(2) An information request under this section may be made only for the purpose of identifying—

(a) whether an individual who has applied for a determination under section 9 has been convicted of a terrorism offence, and

(b) if the individual has been so convicted, details relating to that conviction.

(3) An information request under this section may in particular request the disclosure of any of the following—

(a) a relevant individual’s full name and any previous names;

(b) a relevant individual’s address and any previous addresses;

(c) a relevant individual’s date of birth;

(d) a relevant individual’s national insurance number;

(e) a number identifying a relevant individual in a system maintained by a body established in accordance with a collaboration agreement under section 22A of the Police Act 1996;

(f) a number identifying a relevant individual in a system maintained by the Secretary of State for the management of offenders;

(g) any convictions of a relevant individual;

(h) any details relating to those convictions, including the date of conviction and any sentence imposed.

(4) A competent authority may disclose to the Director information specified in an information request made under this section.

(5) The Director may, for the purposes of deciding whether general case services are to be available to an individual under this Part, process any personal data in respect of a relevant individual disclosed by a competent authority to the Director under this section.

(6) This section does not authorise the disclosure or processing of information if the disclosure or processing would contravene the data protection legislation (but, in determining whether a disclosure or processing would do so, the powers conferred by this section are to be taken into account).

(7) In this section—

• “competent authority” has the same meaning as in section 30 of the Data Protection Act 2018;

• “general case services” and “terrorism offence” have the same meanings as in section 9A;

• “personal data”, “processing” and “the data protection legislation” have the same meanings as in section 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018;

• “relevant individual” means—

  (a)

  an individual who has applied for a determination under section 9, or

  (b)

  an individual who has been convicted of a terrorism offence.”