Commentary on Sections and Schedules Part 1: Budget Responsibility Section 9: Right to information
49.Subsections (1) and (3) provide the Office with a right of access to all information held by any Minister of the Crown or Government department. The Office also has a right to assistance and explanation in relation to this information, set out in subsection (2). These rights apply only to information which the Office reasonably needs to perform its functions. This continues the current practice of using information held across Government to produce forecasts and analysis effectively (previously undertaken by the Treasury) and the Office will be entitled to receive all of the information that the Treasury has previously received.
50.Subsection (4) specifies that the Office will receive information in compliance with any statutory provision (such as the Data Protection Act 1998) or common law rules (such as duties of confidentiality). The Office will not have access to confidential information relating to taxpayers and any information that is received will comply with data protection principles. The Treasury has not required access to such information in exercising its current forecasting functions.