Section 28: Restrictions on disclosure of information., Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974

In this and the two following subsections—

"relevant information" means information obtained by a person under section 27(1) or furnished to any person , other than the Office for Nuclear Regulation (or an inspector appointed by it), under section 27A above , by virtue of section 43A(6) below or in pursuance of a requirement imposed by any of the relevant statutory provisions; and

"the recipient", in relation to any relevant information, means the person by whom that information was so obtained or to whom that information was so furnished, as the case may be.

Subject to the following subsection, no relevant information shall be disclosed without the consent of the person by whom it was furnished.

The preceding subsection shall not apply to—

disclosure of information to . . . the Executive , the Office for Nuclear Regulation,, the Environment Agency, the Natural Resources Body for Wales, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, a government department or any enforcing authority;

without prejudice to paragraph (a) above, disclosure by the recipient of information to any person for the purpose of any function conferred on the recipient by or under any of the relevant statutory provisions;

without prejudice to paragraph (a) above, disclosure by the recipient of information to—

an officer of a local authority who is authorised by that authority to receive it,

an officer . . . of a water undertaker, sewerage undertaker, water authority or water development board who is authorised by that . . . undertaker, authority or board to receive it,

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

a constable authorised by a chief officer of police to receive it;

disclosure by the recipient of information in a form calculated to prevent it from being identified as relating to a particular person or case;

disclosure of information for the purposes of any legal proceedings or any investigation or inquiry held by virtue of section 14(2) or (2A), or for the purposes of a report of any such proceedings or inquiry or of a special report made by virtue of section 14(2) or (2A).

In the preceding subsection, any reference to the Executive , the Office for Nuclear Regulation,, the Environment Agency, the Natural Resources Body for Wales, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, a government department or an enforcing authority includes respectively a reference to an officer of that body or authority (including, in the case of an enforcing authority, any inspector appointed by it), and also, in the case of a reference to the Executive or the Office for Nuclear Regulation, includes a reference to—

a person performing any functions of the Executive or Office for Nuclear Regulation on its behalf by virtue of section 13(3) of this Act or, as the case may be, section 95 of the Energy Act 2013;

an officer of a body which is so performing any such functions; and

an adviser appointed under section 13(7) or, in the case of the Office for Nuclear Regulation, a person providing advice to that body..

A person to whom information is disclosed in pursuance of any of paragraphs (a) to (e) of subsection (3) above shall not use the information for a purpose other than—

in a case falling within paragraph (a) of that subsection, a purpose . . . of the Executive , of the Office for Nuclear Regulation or of the Environment Agency or of the Natural Resources Body for Wales or of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency or of the government department in question, or the purposes of the enforcing authority in question in connection with the relevant statutory provisions, as the case may be;

in the case of information given to an officer of a body which is a local authority, . . . a water undertaker, a sewerage undertaker, a water authority, a river purification board or a water development board, the purposes of the body in connection with the relevant statutory provisions or any enactment whatsoever relating to public health, public safety or the protection of the environment;

in the case of information given to a constable, the purposes of the police in connection with the relevant statutory provisions or any enactment whatsoever relating to public health, public safety or the safety of the State.

References in subsections (3) and (5) above to a local authority include a corporate joint committee established by regulations under Part 5 of the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021, . . . a joint authority established by Part IV of the Local Government Act 1985, an economic prosperity board established under section 88 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, a combined authority established under section 103 of that Act , a combined county authority established under section 9(1) of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023, a fire and rescue authority created by an order under section 4A of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 ... and the London Fire Commissioner.

Notwithstanding anything in the preceding subsection an inspector shall, in circumstances in which it is necessary to do so for the purpose of assisting in keeping persons (or the representatives of persons) employed at any premises adequately informed about matters affecting their health, safety and welfare, give to such persons or their representatives the following descriptions of information, that is to say—

factual information obtained by him as mentioned in that subsection which relates to those premises or anything which was or is therein or was or is being done therein; and

information with respect to any action which he has taken or proposes to take in or in connection with those premises in the performance of his functions;

and, where an inspector does as aforesaid, he shall give the like information to the employer of the first-mentioned persons.

Notwithstanding anything in subsection (7) above, a person who has obtained such information as is referred to in that subsection may furnish to a person who appears to him to be likely to be a party to any civil proceedings arising out of any accident, occurrence, situation or other matter, a written statement of relevant facts observed by him in the course of exercising any of the powers referred to in that subsection.

Subsection (7) above does not apply if–

the person who has obtained any such information as is referred to in that subsection is, or is acting on behalf of a person who is, a public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and

the information is not held by the authority on behalf of another person.

Nothing in subsection (7) or (9) applies to a person appointed as an inspector by the Office for Nuclear Regulation in relation to functions which the person has by virtue of that appointment.

The Broads Authority and every National Park authority shall be deemed to be local authorities for the purposes of this section.

Section 28: Restrictions on disclosure of information.

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