Section 181 Access to driver licensing informationI1I2

The Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 is amended as follows.

For section 71 substitute—

“Access to driver licensing information

71

(1)

The Secretary of State may in accordance with this section make driver licensing information available for use by authorised persons for purposes relating to policing or law enforcement.

(2)

The Secretary of State must in regulations made for the purposes of this section (“driver information regulations”) make provision about the making available of driver licensing information under this section.

(3)

Driver information regulations must specify the circumstances in which information may be made available under this section.

(4)

Driver information regulations may in particular make provision—

(a)

specifying conditions that must be met for a person to be (or remain) authorised to receive information under this section;

(b)

specifying conditions that must be met before information may be made available under this section;

(c)

imposing requirements relating to the receipt and use of information made available under this section;

(d)

restricting the kind of information that may be made available to, or the purposes for which information may be used by, specified descriptions of authorised persons;

(e)

about the purposes for which, and the circumstances in which, information made available under this section may be further disclosed (including provision about the persons to whom it may be disclosed).

(5)

Before making driver information regulations, the Secretary of State must consult—

(a)

the Scottish Ministers,

(b)

the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland,

(c)

the National Police Chiefs’ Council,

(d)

such persons as appear to the Secretary of State to represent the views of police and crime commissioners, and

(e)

such other persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.

(6)

The requirement in subsection (5) may be satisfied by consultation carried out wholly or partly before this section comes into force.

(7)

The Secretary of State may not make driver information regulations in relation to Northern Ireland authorised persons without the consent of the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland.

(8)

“Northern Ireland authorised persons” means authorised persons who—

(a)

are under the direction and control of—

(i)

the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland,

(ii)

the Belfast Harbour Commissioners, or

(iii)

Belfast International Airport Limited, or

(b)

are officers of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland.

(9)

In this section—

• “authorised person” has the meaning given in section 71A;

• “driver licensing information” means any information held, in any form, by the Secretary of State for the purposes of Part 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

Section 71: meaning of “authorised person”

71A

(1)

In section 71 “authorised person” means a person specified in the first column of the following table who is authorised by the person specified in the corresponding entry in the second column of the table to receive information under that section.

Person	Authorising officer
a constable	the person whose direction and control the constable is under
a member of civilian police staff	the person whose direction and control the member of civilian police staff is under
a police volunteer designated under section 38 of the Police Reform Act 2002	the chief officer of police whose direction and control the police volunteer is under
a National Crime Agency officer	the Director General of the National Crime Agency
a member, or a member of the staff, of the Independent Office of Police Conduct	the Director General of the Independent Office of Police Conduct
a member of the staff of the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner	the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner
an officer of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland	the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland
a member of a service police force, or any other person who is under the direction and control of a Provost Marshal	the relevant Provost Marshal
a person appointed as an investigating officer by, or a member of the staff of, the Service Police Complaints Commissioner	the Service Police Complaints Commissioner
Isle of Man
a member of the Isle of Man Constabulary, or an employee of the Isle of Man Public Services Commission	the Chief Constable of the Isle of Man Constabulary
an officer of customs and excise, or an immigration officer, of the Isle of Man	the Treasury Minister of the Isle of Man
a member of staff of the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Isle of Man	the Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Isle of Man
Jersey
a member of the States of Jersey Police Force	the Chief Officer of the States of Jersey Police Force
a deputy Agent of the Impôts, or an officer of the Impôts, of the Bailiwick of Jersey	the Agent of the Impôts of the Bailiwick of Jersey
a member or employee of the Jersey Financial Intelligence Unit	the Director of the Jersey Financial Intelligence Unit
an employee of the Law Officers’ Department	His Majesty’s Attorney General for Jersey
Guernsey
a member of the salaried police force of the Island of Guernsey, or an employee of the States of Guernsey	the Chief Officer of the salaried police force of the Island of Guernsey
an officer of customs and excise, or an immigration officer, of the Bailiwick of Guernsey	the Chief Officer of Customs and Excise of the Bailiwick of Guernsey
a person authorised to exercise a function of the Director of the Economic and Financial Crime Bureau of the Bailiwick of Guernsey	the Director of the Economic and Financial Crime Bureau of the Bailiwick of Guernsey
a member of staff of the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Bailiwick of Guernsey	the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Bailiwick of Guernsey
Gibraltar
a member of the Royal Gibraltar Police	the Commissioner of the Royal Gibraltar Police
a member of the Gibraltar Defence Police	the Chief Officer of the Gibraltar Defence Police
a member of civilian staff in the Gibraltar Defence Police	the person whose direction and control the member of civilian staff is under

(2)

In the table—

• “member of civilian police staff” means a person who is not a constable but who—

  1. (a)

     is—

     1. (i)

        employed, or engaged to provide services, for the purposes of a body of constables, and

     2. (ii)

        under the direction and control of a person who has the direction and control of a body of constables, or

  2. (b)

     is under the direction and control of the chief constable of the Ministry of Defence Police;

• “officer”, in relation to the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, means an officer of the Ombudsman within the meaning of Part 7 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 1998 (see section 50 of that Act);

• “relevant Provost Marshal” means—

  1. (a)

     in relation to a member of a service police force—

     1. (i)

        the Provost Marshal of that service police force, or

     2. (ii)

        in the case of a member of the tri-service serious crime unit described in section 375(1A) of the Armed Forces Act 2006, the Provost Marshal for serious crime;

  2. (b)

     in relation to any other person who is under the direction and control of a Provost Marshal, that Provost Marshal;

• “service police force” has the same meaning as in the Armed Forces Act 2006 (see section 375(1) of that Act).

Code of practice about access to driver licensing information

71B

(1)

The Secretary of State may issue a code of practice about the receipt and use of information made available under section 71.

(2)

The code may make different provision for different purposes or different areas.

(3)

In preparing a code of practice, the Secretary of State must consult—

(a)

the Scottish Ministers,

(b)

the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland, and

(c)

such other persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.

(4)

The requirement in subsection (3) may be satisfied by consultation carried out wholly or partly before this section comes into force.

(5)

The Secretary of State may revise a code of practice issued under this section; and subsection (3) applies in relation to revising a code as it applies in relation to preparing a code.

(6)

The Secretary of State must lay before Parliament and publish any code of practice issued or revised under this section.

(7)

Any person to whom information is made available under section 71 must have regard to any code of practice issued under this section.

Driver licensing information: annual report

71C

(1)

The Secretary of State must in relation to each calendar year prepare a report about the use of information made available under section 71.

This is subject to subsection (3) (period to which first report relates).

(2)

The Secretary of State must publish each report before 1 July in the year following the year to which the report relates.

(3)

The first report is to relate to the period beginning with the commencement day and ending at the end of the year in which that day falls.

(4)

In subsection (3), “the commencement day” means the day on which section 181 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 first comes into force for any purpose, other than the purposes of making regulations.”

In section 76 (subordinate legislation), after subsection (5) insert—

“(5A)

A statutory instrument containing regulations under section 71 may not be made unless a draft of the instrument has been laid before and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.”