Article 15 Confidentiality of information

(1)

Information obtained by the Scottish Commissioner or a member of his staff in the course of or for the purposes of an investigation shall not be disclosed except–

(a)

for the purposes of the investigation and of any report of it under this Order;

(b)

for the purposes of any proceedings for–

(i)

an offence under the Official Secrets Acts 1911 to 1989 alleged to have been committed in respect of information obtained by the Scottish Commissioner or a member of his staff; or

(ii)

an offence of perjury alleged to have been committed in the course of an investigation by him;

(c)

for the purposes of an inquiry with a view to the taking of any of the proceedings mentioned in sub-paragraph (b);

(d)

for the purposes of any proceedings under article 13.

(2)

Neither the Scottish Commissioner nor any member of his staff shall be called upon to give evidence in any proceedings (other than proceedings referred to in paragraph (1)) of matters coming to his or their knowledge in the course of an investigation.

(3)

A member of the Scottish Executive or, as the case may be, a Minister of the Crown may give notice in writing to the Scottish Commissioner with respect to–

(a)

any document or information specified in the notice; or

(b)

any class of document or information so specified,

that, in the opinion of that member of the Scottish Executive or of that Minister, the disclosure of that document or information, or of documents or information of that class, would be prejudicial to the safety of the State or otherwise contrary to the public interest. In this paragraph references to a Minister of the Crown include references to the Treasury, the Commissioners of Customs and Excise and the Commissioners of Inland Revenue.

(4)

Where such a notice is given neither the Scottish Commissioner nor any member of his staff shall be authorised or required to communicate to any person or for any purpose any document or information specified in the notice, or any document or information of a class so specified.

(5)

Where–

(a)

the Scottish Commissioner also holds office as the Parliamentary Commissioner or as a Health Service Commissioner (“a Commissioner”); and

(b)

a person initiates a complaint to him in his capacity as a Commissioner which relates partly to a matter with respect to which that person has previously initiated, or subsequently initiates, a complaint to him in his capacity as the Scottish Commissioner,

information obtained by the Scottish Commissioner or a member of his staff in the course of, or for the purposes of, investigating a complaint to him in his capacity as Scottish Commissioner may be disclosed for the purposes of his carrying out his functions in relation to the other complaint.