Role of the Information Commissioner

‘(1) The Information Commissioner shall have full jurisdiction over the workings of the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority and the Pensions Regulator.

(2) The Secretary of State must prepare, and keep under review, a code of practice with respect to the disclosure of information relating to pensions by public authorities.

(3) Before preparing or altering the code, the Secretary of State must consult—

(a) any specified public authority;

(b) the Information Commissioner; and

(c) such other persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.

(4) A public authority must have regard to the code in (or in connection with) disclosing information relating to pensions.

(5) Nothing in this section applies in relation to any disclosure by a relevant public authority of information whose subject-matter is a matter about which provision would be within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament if it were included in an Act of the Scottish Parliament.

(6) The Secretary of State must—

(a) lay a copy of the code, and of any alterations to it, before Parliament; and

(b) from time to time publish the code as for the time being in force.’.—[Paul Rowen.]