Any person who, apart from this subsection, would not have power to disclose information—
to a relevant authority; or
to a person acting on behalf of such an authority,
shall have power to do so in any case where the disclosure is necessary or expedient for the purposes of any provision of this Act.
In this section “relevant authority” means—
the chief officer of police for a police area in England and Wales;
the chief constable of the Police Service of Scotland;
a local policing body within the meaning given by section 101(1) of the Police Act 1996;
a combined authority established under section 103 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009;
a combined county authority established under section 9(1) of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023;
a local authority, that is to say—
in relation to England, a county council, a district council, a London borough council , a parish council or the Common Council of the City of London;
in relation to Wales, a county council , a county borough council or a community council;
in relation to Scotland, a council constituted under section 2 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994;
a non-profit registered provider of social housing;
a person registered under section 1 of the Housing Act 1996 as a social landlord;
a local probation board in England and Wales;
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
probation trust
a provider of probation services (other than a probation trust or the Secretary of State), in carrying out its statutory functions or activities of a public nature in pursuance of arrangements made under section 3(2) of the Offender Management Act 2007
a Local Health Board;
NHS England;
an integrated care board;
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the London Fire Commissioner;
a fire and rescue authority constituted by a scheme under section 2 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 or a scheme to which section 4 of that Act applies;
a fire and rescue authority created by an order under section 4A of that Act;
a metropolitan county fire and rescue authority.
The appropriate national authority may by order amend this section so far as it extends to England and Wales by—
adding an entry for any person or body to the list of authorities in subsection (2),
altering or repealing any entry for the time being included in the list, or
adding, altering or repealing provisions for the interpretation of entries in the list.
In subsection (3) “the appropriate national authority” has the same meaning as in section 5.