Schedule 1 - Extension of existing disclosure powers
Criminal Justice and Police Bill
11:30 am
Mr Charles Clarke (Minister of State, Home Office; Norwich South, Labour)
Amendment No. 138, which is purely technical, deals with lifted information disclosure in respect of the Gas Act 1986 and the Electricity Act 1989. As to the Timeshare Act 1992 and the Homes Bill, information about what information may be made available is relevant. For example, under the Timeshare Act, the information that local weights and measures authorities in Great Britain—the enforcement authorities for the purposes of the Act—obtain in the exercise of their functions is restricted information, but information on agreements about timeshare property can be disclosed in connection with the investigation of criminal offences.
Under the Homes Bill, the evidence of title required for standard preliminary inquiries on behalf of buyers, copies of planning lists, building regulations, consents and approvals and other such information can be disclosed. In certain circumstances, disclosure of such information could help criminal prosecutions. It is a genuinely technical issue.